Interim Report of faunal analysis from the 2006 Midden excavation at Möðruvellir, Eyjafjörður, N Iceland

The faunal material used for this interim report stems from an exploratory trenching exercise at the Möðruvellir Midden or Öskuhóll (Ash Hill), carried out in the summer of 2006 (July 31 through August 9th). The excavation was undertaken by Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FSI (Icelandic Archaeological Institute), under supervision of Ramona Harrison. It is part of an ongoing project directed by Howell Roberts and Orri Vésteinsson and aims at gathering information on the existing subsistence strategies in late medieval Eyjafjord.

Aim of the Möðruvellir Midden exercise was to locate and collect faunal and artefactual remains as well as environmental samples from a well stratified midden sequence associated with the medieval and the more recent subsistence activities at the Möðruvellir monastery (medieval) site. Plan 1 situates the Ash Hill in relationship with the modern Church (Kirkja). The original farm and church associated with the medieval monastery have not been positively located yet. For more information, please consult the preliminary FSI excavation report (Harrison & Roberts, 2006).

Analysis of the faunal remains was carried out at the CUNY Northern Science & Education Center laboratories as part of the North Atlantic Biocultural Organization cooperative effort, with funding provided by the UK Leverhulme Trust, the Thor Thor´s Fund, and the Leifur Eiríksson Foundation.

Archaeofauna Iceland Möðruvellir Öskuhóll zooarchaeology

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