Domestica

“Oh boy, where have I put my keys?
I’ve looked in my pocket
Behind the newspaper
And underneath the remote control
And I cannot where I put them again

Oh boy, I cannot find my keys
I’m far too late.
The door is open now
The taxi is waiting there,

And the phone keeps ringing,
I’m definitely not going to pick it up
Cos, when I grow up
I’m gonna’ get those fancy key rings
That you whistle at
And they whistle right back at you.”

Hornbrekka, in the district of Hofshreppur, in Skagafjörður is the site of a modern farmstead of little renown. It lies in stark comparison to other farms in the region, or Iceland as a whole, as a poor farm full of stalwart people living in the face of adversity. Bone crushing, family shearing adversity.

Despite its low status—no because of its low status it is important historically. Hornbrekka, like many other farmsteads in the 1870s and 1880s was abandoned. In this particular instance, only partially. Despite its current status as a first world country with one of the highest standards of living in history, Iceland used to be seen as a Norwegian and then Danish backwater colony. Harsh conditions kept the population of the island very low and in the 19th century extreme poverty prompted mass emigrations to North America. Canada received the bulk of these immigrants. Two of these immigrants were Páll Gunnlaugson and Nanna Jónsdóttir, former residents of Hornbrekka.

Through fortunate circumstances (read: Iceland’s historical superiority on the literacy front) we are able to trace the couple’s movements through time. From Hornbrekka to Winnipeg to Víðirnesbyggð, Nýja Ísland. Águsta (primary investigator and a PhD student of Karen) chose Hornbrekka for these reasons. Hornbrekka is being excavated this summer, and next summer Páll and Nanna’s home in Canada will be excavated. Thus, the project provides a unique perspective and some very visceral interpretations of the lives of Icelanders who left their home for the new world.

Currently, I am out in the midden (rubbish dump) excavating whilst the other members of the team are inside the house in several rooms. In the near future I must do an entry about some of the finds in the midden. You can learn much about people from their garbage. Somewhere Páll and Nanna must be horrified at us looking through their trash. So it goes.