As many of you will know, the field school at Vatnsfjörður is now complete (see previous entry). There was a one week gap between the field school and my work at Hornbrekka for the rest of the summer. I had previously been nervous about this gap week because even at the cheapest, it would have been 25000 ISK per night in Reykjavík. Not worth it. Not affordable. Well... worth it. If only Alan's land lady wasn't Bitchy Bitchsdóttir.
I digress.
Anyway, Karen found a way for me to spend the week doing something productive, for free! I have spent this past week digging in Skagafjörður for an NSF propelled American team. Very different archaeology, a lot of surveying, but I have gained some valuable experience and met nice people. And at the very least, I worked nine hour days for room and board which is a very good deal.
There is not much to say about the week, because I don't care to, nor do I fully understand the project. It is hard to dive into a dig four weeks in when everyone knows everyone and everything is mundane. To summarise, I spent the week doing ground penetrating radar (read: holding measuring tapes still for hours at a time) and digging a peat ash midden (much more fun).
Here are some good photos I took this week.
The shores of northern Iceland. For Kat.
Crew from SASS (Skagafjörður Archaeological Settlement Survey) on a site near Hólar. The site contains a fishing post, the oldest of its kind.
Mediaeval graveyard found in the backyard of a local farmer. Can you spot the location of a grave?
And how about now?
A grave being excavated, the only one before the site is closed for the year.
The old woman in the grave. She is drying before excavation is completed. Some archaeologists in the group expressed discomfort or distaste for excavating human skeletal material. I have no such qualms. What do you guys think?
So how did the archaeologists find this site? Besides the farmer building his house in the location and uncovered a skeleton (before moving the house further north)... One can tell in the vegetation. Here, the graveyard shows up in sharp contrast to the surrounding area. Mediaeval Icelandic cemetaries were often modified. The were built up as a dais using turf and other material. This richness of soil in comparison to the rest of the local area allows some plants to colonise and do extremely well. Here, a weed is growing on the enriched soil instead of grass.
Can you spot the border?
How about now?
bless bless,
Nick
4 comments:
Thank you for the brief lesson in archaeology, Nick. Awesome pics!
Love,
Chan
Nick, you inspired me to get the book "Bodies from the Ice, Melting Glaciers and the Recovery of the Past" by James Deem. Under "Glaciers to visit" he lists Vatnajokull. It's a book for kids, but at least I understand it!
Love,
A. Nancy
Ya, I say leave the dead ladies alone. I'll be one of them someday...
A Roz
Hi Nancy: Vatnajökull is massive. Seeing it is supposed to be like staring straight into the sun--it is so big and bright. I have only seen two glaciers here in Iceland and both were tiny wee things in comparison!
Hello Roz: The dead ladies have great stories to tell. But historical graves are never excavated. Because Iceland is such a tightly knit country chances are there are many living relatives.
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