International Polar Year

This report outlines the research that was conducted over the course of one week in late June, 2008. A total of five réttir – sheep folds – were surveyed using a Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS). Each réttir displayed a variety of forms, and different uses of local materials, and these results will be used ...

The site of the fishing station Gufuskálar is located on the northern side of the western tip of Snæfellsnes peninsula in the West of Iceland. It sits at the shore of the Atlantic ocean which causes a major threat to the site. A dominant feature in the landscape is the cone-shaped 1446m high glacier Snæfellsjökull, ...

In summer of 2008 and 2009, an excavation team led by the author and Howell M. Roberts (FSI) investigated the potential for midden remains at Myrkárdalur, a farm ruin site situated in a highland area in the most interior part of a minor valley system in Hörgárdalur, Eyjafjörður. The results of these exercises were two ...

July and August 2009 and June and July 2010 were the fifth and sixth seasons of the collaborative Norse Settlement in the Vatnahverfi Region, South Greenland ca. AD 985 – 1450 Project. The Danish Middle Ages & Renaissance Department at The Danish National Museum and the Greenland National Museum and Archives (NKA) collaborated with the ...

The discovery of an intact midden at Skútustaðir’s historic farmstead in 2007 was a key finding for the planned investigation of the medieval and early modern periods in the lake Mývatn area of northern Iceland. The 2009 field season followed a soil coring survey and surface collection in 2007 and the excavation of four test ...

Reconstructing historic landscapes responses to a range of factors contributed by natural processes and anthropogenic activities is an important part of understanding why natural systems fluctuate between stable and unstable conditions. In doing so new understanding of landscape resilience in a dynamic environment can emerge and ultimately lead to new ideas for sustainable management. To understand ...

In June-July 2009 an international team (led by Ágústa Edwald FSÍ and Tom McGovern CUNY) conducted initial investigations of stratified midden deposits associated with the historic site of Skútustaðir in Mývatn in NE Iceland. In 2007 a joint FSÍ/CUNY NABO team visited Skútustaðir following the discovery of a patch of eroding midden by Arni Einarsson ...

This report presents the results of a very successful second Gásir Hinterlands Project (GHP) field season in 2009. There are several finds specialists’ reports attached to the field report: Elín Ósk Hreiðarsdóttir presents a detailed account of the beads found; Guðrún Alda Gísladóttir (who also organized the artefact processing), together with Sigrid Juel Hansen and Sólveig ...

This faunal report presents new information on the Gásir archaeofauna which was collected during 5 years (2002 – 2006) out of the total 6 years of Archaeological excavations at the site of Gásir near the modern city of Akureyri. Under the direction of Howell Roberts of Fornleifastofnun Íslands (Archaeological Institute Iceland, FSĺ) and on behalf ...

This fieldwork was co-funded by National Science Foundation grant ‘Human Ecodynamics in Norse North Atlantic’, the Earth and Biosphere Institute (EBI), University of Leeds and Durham University. It forms part of our efforts to understand the landscape history in general, and past vegetation dynamics and modification by humans in particular, in Mývatnssveit, northern Iceland. This ...

This report outlines the research that was conducted over the course of two weeks in June 2009. The basis for this research was derived from a survey in 2008 of five réttir (sheep folds) using a Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS). Four sites were trenched to ascertain their age, and in addition a further ten ...

July and August 2008 was the fourth season of the collaborative Norse Settlement in the Vatnahverfi Region, South Greenland ca. AD 985 – 1450 Project. The Danish Middle Ages & Renaissance Department at The Danish National Museum and the Greenland National Museum and Archives (NKA) collaborated with the Northern Science and Education Center at City ...