Herding Structures in Northern Iceland: A Preliminary IPY Report of the Field Season 2008

In the summer of 2008 the author was able to travel to northern Iceland to work with archaeologists and environmental scientists from Iceland, Denmark, Canada, US, and UK involved in three inter-connected international projects in the Mývatn area, in Eyjafjörður, and in Vatnsfjörður, all of which combined excavation and environmental science with survey and landscape analysis as part of a long term collaboration of Archaeological Institute Iceland (FSI) and the North Atlantic Biocultural Organization (NABO). The objective of this collaboration was to combine some of the data generated from three years of archaeological work of the Vatnahverfi Project (another IPY-project centred on Southwest Greenland), a master’s thesis on Norse enclosures and other herding structures, and the connection of herding structures with other landscape features, zooarchaeology, farm excavation, and isotopic analysis of human and animal diets in Greenland –a study which has already begun to reveal intriguing results in better understanding the land use practices of the vanished Norse settlements in Greenland. However, in order to fully understand this dimension of Norse pastoral activities, a wider North Atlantic perspective is essential and in the summer of 2008, such an opportunity was provided by IPY NABO funding. During three weeks the present author visited three different regions of northern Iceland, trying to get familiar not only with the herding structures, but also with the landscape and the more general dimensions of the archaeological setting of Iceland. Since many of the results of this work as yet only are present as field notes, sketches, uncorrected GPS measurements and an extensive photo archive in hands of the author, this preliminary report will present the diverse fieldwork in the form of a shortened, illustrated and commented diary. A formal report (Aldred and Madsen 2009) will present the full details of the survey results. A publication in Journal of the North Atlantic (JONA) comparing patterning in herding structures in Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands is planned as later product of this study.

Haganesgötur Herding Iceland International Polar Year Myrkárdalur Svarfadardalur Thorvaldsdalur Vatnsfjörður

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