Howell Roberts

... 48 Das Gewicht aus Gásir A ppendix 7 –Orri Vésteinsson 50 ... More recently, four trial trenches were excavated by Margrét Hermanns-Auðardóttir and Bjarni F. Einarsson during the summer of 1986, each located within a different part of the site. This previous work ...

Now in their sixth consecutive season, archaeologica1 excavations at Hofstaðir in Mývatnssveit continued to expand the areas under investigation. Starting with small trenches in Areas G and D at the southern end of the skáli in 1995, open area excavation has continued to grow in subsequent seasons, with the addition of new areas to the west, east and south of the skáli (E and A), and finally this year, the opening of the greater part of the interior (A/B). Last year also saw the first investigations by the medieval farm mound, specifically the area centred on the chapel and graveyard which was further expanded this year. The primary aims this year were manifold. On the one hand, there was the intention to complete many of the structures begun in previous seasons: the pithouse in G, the various structures in A, and the structure in Z. On the other, two new aims were initiated: to commence investigation inside the skáli and begin systematic excavation of graves in Z. To differing degr...

In 2009, an international team cooperated in survey, coring, and small scale test excavation work on selected sites in the Eyjafjord region in North Iceland. This concluded the initial part of the Gásir Hinterlands Project which was predominantly funded by a NSF IPY Dissertation Improvement Grant. A thorough account on the field season and artifact analyses from the 2008 and 2009 seasons are presented here.

Vettvangsferð sem farin var að Kálfskinni sumarið 2005 var liður í stóru kumlarannsóknarverkefni á landsvísu sem Fornleifastofnun Íslands hóf 10 árum áður. Beindust athuganir í fyrstu að endurskoðun á fyrri rannsóknum og lauk þeim með endurnýjaðri útgáfu á kumlatali Kristjáns Eldjárns árið 2000. 1 Er megináherslan í því riti á lýsingu og greiningu á haugfé sem fundist hefur í heiðnum gröfum á Íslandi, en um aldamótin hófum við nýjar rannsóknir á kumlum og með nýjum áherslum. Síðastliðin ár ...

The stuff of Icelandic history. Material culture as evidence for monopolistic trade and consumption. In Icelandic historiography trade has long had pride of place as the lead indicator of the oscillating fortunes of the Icelandic people. Nationalistic historians were obsessed with the Danish Trade Monopoly, in effect from 1602 to 1787, and its supposedly stultifying impact on the Icelandic economy. The unproven assumption has always been that in contrast to this early modern period of doom and depression the middle ages had been characterised by free and vibrant trading, initially controlled by the Icelanders themselves. This paper challenges this view and argues that in the middle ages trade was not only limited in volume compared to the early modern period but also restricted to and effectively controlled by the elite. External trade was insignificant economically, but access to it was controlled, monoplised, by the elite in order to maintain its status. Two strands of evidence ar...