Skuggi in Hörgárdalur, N. Iceland: Preliminary report of the 2008/2009 archaeofauna

Skuggi is located in Hörgárdalur, ca. 20 km southwest of the medieval trading site Gásir in Eyjafjörður, N Iceland (figure 1). The site lies south of the river Hörgá that names the entire valley system and whose waters traverse the Hörgá Valley, or Hörgárdalur, to eventually drain into Eyjafjörður just slightly north of Gásir. Positioned on a little plateau at an elevation of about 170 m asl, Skuggi is a mid-to upper highland site and may have originated as a small farm, that may later have been incorporated into the larger landholdings of Staðartunga farm in the later middle ages. Staðartunga farm itself became eventually associated with the Möðruvellir monastery (Hreiðarsdóttir et al 2008:230).

In 2008, the author together with Þóra Pétursdóttir from FSÍ cored the Skuggi site and located and tested a medieval midden. In 2009, a larger scale midden excavation was carried out. The trenched midden and especially its underlying structure are remains of the original site settlement, with other structures possibly associated with later site activities mentioned in written sources (Hreiðarsdóttir 2008:233, some information in English in Harrison et al 2010).

Radiocarbon analysis dates the Skuggi midden deposits to ca. AD 970 – 1208; Tephrochronology further aids in dating this site: All midden deposits are sealed by H1300, and most of them by H1407. The turf structure under the midden contains tephra layers deposited during the volcanic landnám eruption (LNS) that coincided with Icelandic settlement in AD 871.

The Skuggi midden excavation, directed by the author was the latest in a series of archaeological projects that are all part of a larger Eyjafjörður Ecodynamics program.

Archaeofauna Eyjafjörður Hörgárdalur Iceland Skuggi tephrochronology zooarchaeology

Alternative formats:

If you require this document in an alternative format, such as large print or a coloured background, please contact the author(s) or publisher. If it is a document authored by NABO, please contact us, either via our contact form or by emailing anthony.newton@ed.ac.uk.