Document Type

Research Report

Publication Date

2024

Abstract

This report outlines the 2023 work, including Geophysical survey, Coring, and Excavations at Efri-Ás, Laufskálaholt (on the Efri-Ás land of the Ásholt summer house), Brekkukot, Kálfsstaðir, Kjarvalsstaðir, Nautabú, Ingveldarstaðir, Skúfsstaðir, Garðakot (part of Víðines) Grafarkot (part of Víðines), Hringver, Hólakot (part of Viðvík), and Viðvík) in Hjaltadal as part of the Hjaltadalur Archaeological Survey Project (HASP). This is the third year of a scheduled three-year project. The purpose of the project is to outline the settlement sequence and regional development in Hólar and around Hjaltadal and compare them with similar studies that have been carried out in Skagafjörður. The 12 farms investigated in 2023 all seem to have been established well before the Hekla 1104 (H1104) tephra fell. The farms at Garðakot, Kálfsstaðir, Kjarvalsstaðir, Nautabú, Ingveldarstaðir, and Viðvík have continuous sequences that indicate long-term stability up to the early modern period. The farm mound at Skúfsstaðir seems to be continuous, and there is a distinct, smaller, and shorter occupation area on the farmstead. The main farm mound at Efri-Ás seems to have shifted over time. Hólakot is abandoned shortly after AD 1300 and Hringver is abandoned in the mid-20th century. The geophysical results from Skúfsstaðir suggest the presence of a round wall 21 m in diameter, consistent with a churchyard boundary wall. If investigation of this round anomaly yields a burial ground, it would be the first time that a churchyard wall was identified by geophysical prospection at a farm without any documentary evidence of ever having had a church.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

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