Preliminary Report of the Archaeofauna at Skálholt, Iceland

Summary

This report presents results of a preliminary analysis of the archaeofauna at the

Episcopal farm of Skálholt, Arnessyslá, southern Iceland. This report presents

the preliminary analysis of group 634. Group 634 was a 3X5 meter trench

oriented lengthwise north to south opened up on June 28th of 2004 by Birna

Lárusdóttir. Further excavation of this group was conducted by George

Hambrecht during June of 2005, and a 1x3 meter extension was opened up off of

the north end of the initial trench. This work was conducted in conjunction with

the FSI excavations of the early modern phases of Skálholt. A total of 11,176

bone fragments were recovered from group 634. An analysis of faunal remains

from other contexts is on-going. Previous reports (Hambrecht et al. 2004, 2005)

have covered the analysis of a large midden of cattle bones (unit 454) as well as

some other finished contexts. Total number of bone fragments analyzed from the

Skálholt archaeofauna to date is 48,674. All sediments were dry sieved through

4mm mesh to standardize recovery of bones following usual NABO

recommendations.

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Thomas McGovern

Principal Investigator(s): George Hambrecht

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