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Rauðaskriða

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Project Content

Fornleifakönnun á Rauðuskriðu í Aðaldal 2003 Fornleifastofnun [1.02 MB] A small archaeological investigation was conducted in an enclosed area in Rauðaskriða, S-Þingeyjarsýsla, believed to be a graveyard and scheduled as such. Written sources mention a church on the farm in 1480 but it had apparantly gone out of use in the early 18th century. The place was thought to be of special value for church archaeology, mainly because of its unusual location, some 160 m away from the farm and because no structure could be detected on the surface, possibly pointing to a timber structure of medieval origin. The aim was to detect the church foundations and to shed light on the preservation of human bone. Two trenches were dug where the church could be expected but he results were unexpected: No ruin was found and no graves and in fact the enclosure isn´t a graveyard but most likely an enclosure around cultivation of some sort. The soil showed clear evidence for cultivation but no tephras were present to determine the age of the structure. Most likley the original graveyard is long forgotten and disappeared and judging by written sources the enclosure could be from the 18th or early 19th centuries. It has probably not been used repetedly but rather represents a single experiment. This raised new questions about the possible location of the church in Rauðaskriða.

Project Location

Latitude: 65.833339°N
Longitude: 17.474782°W