Of Monsters and Men: Material Culture, Movement, and Symbolism at Surtshellir, a Western Icelandic Viking Age Ritual Site

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Social Archaeology in the North and North Atlantic (SANNA 3.0): Investigating the Social Lives of Northern Things" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Over the course of 850 years, Surtshellir—a massive lava cave in western Iceland’s rugged interior—was variously described as a geological wonder, a shelter for outlaws, an abode of ghosts and spirits, a tourist's dream, a place of torture, the wilderness, an archaeological site, and the home of Surtur, destroyer of gods and men. Focusing on data gained from excavations inside the cave in 2012 and 2013, this paper considers how the site’s material culture assemblage and expanded suite of radiocarbon dates affects (re)interpretation of the site and, in turn, what Surtshellir’s archaeological record suggests about Norse mythology, ritual practice, and the roles of Norse elites in early Icelandic society. We examine, in particular, evidence gained from pXRF analyses of objects recovered from the cave, what these objects suggest about the status of those who gathered there, and what they tell us about those individuals' movements to, and within, the cave’s dark zone. Turning to the places of origin, colors, and symbolism of the objects left within the cave, we will consider what was chosen and what was avoided when objects were selected for use and sequestration inside this uniquely important, subterranean Viking Age ritual site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Social Archaeology in the North and North Atlantic (SANNA 3.0): Investigating the Social Lives of Northern Things   •
• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32540