Rescue Excavations at a Medieval Fishing Station in Western Iceland

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Celebrating Anna Kerttula's Contributions to Northern Research" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In 2008 an eroding midden along Iceland’s western coast was discovered to be part of a large 15th century commercial fishing station - the first of its kind to be found in Iceland. The site was clearly endangered by coastal erosion and with support from the National Science Foundation rescue excavations were carried out over the course of the next few summers. While post excavation analysis is still ongoing it’s clear that this site is a window in a tumultuous time in Iceland’s history. It captures an Iceland that was challenging existing ideologies of isolation as it rebuilt after a catastrophic brush with bubonic plague, and laid the foundation for the modern commercial fishing industry so integral to Iceland’s modern economy.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Celebrating Anna Kerttula's Contributions to Northern Research

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23182