Previous research by the Two Valley team in Svarfaðardalur and Hörgárdalur
Survey and earth wall research
The present team of archaeologist, paleoecologists and historians has done extensive research in the Two Valley area before. Around the turn of the millennium and until 2008, the entire area was surveyed for archaeological remains for the first time by a team from the Fornleifastofnun Íslands (FSÍ), among them Elín Ósk Hreiðarsdóttir, Stefán Ólafsson, Orri Vésteinsson, who are all connected with the present research, and many others. The survey showed a large number of many kinds of remains. Among the most interesting for the present research is the many deserted farms. Also the many deserted shielings or summer farms that in the old times were used for butter and skyr production from cow and sheep milk. A huge system of earth walls designed to control land use was also found. A separate projects was organized and in 2010 Elín Ósk Hreiðarsdóttir investigated the age of the earth wall system. It was dated to have been established in around 950, and parts of it were still in use in the 14th century. After that it declined and fell out of use.
Zooarchaeological research in Hörgárdalur
Around 2005 research started into the zooarchaeology of the Hörgárdalur area in connection with research at Gásir, the long abandoned place of commerce at the mouth of Hörgá. Ramona Harrison and Howell Roberts did extensive research into among other things the zooarchaeology at a site called Skuggi in Hörgárdalur, at Oddstaðir in Hörgárdalur and Möðruvellir. Among the results was the PhD thesis of Ramona Harrison, in 2013. Among the most important results of this research was the ratio of cattle to sheep. The ratio at the two sites of Skuggi and Oddstaðir was slightly different, with Skuggi having around 6 sheep to each cow. In Oddsstaðir the ratio was closer to 3 or 4 sheep to each cow, which meant that cows were predominant – one cow was roughly equal in production volume to six ewes. At Skuggi cows and ewes provided half of the milk and meat each.
Historical research combining written documents and archaeological research
In 2015, the National Museum of Iceland decided to award the Dr. Kristján Eldjárn research fellowship to Árni Daníel Júlíusson. It was renewed the year after. The goal of the research program was to write a history of Svarfaðardalur 870 to 1500 using all available sources, the plentiful written material starting after 1100, some of which gave information on the period before that time, and the archaeological surveys and archaeological research already available, which sheds light on the whole period. The result was a synthesis of sources creating an integrated account of the history of the valley, published as a monograph to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of Dr. Kristján Eldjárn´s birth, 6 December 2016. The monograph is called Miðaldir í skuggsjá Svarfaðardals, which can be translated roughly as „The Middle Ages in the Mirror of Svarfaðardalur“. Kristján was in his time the foremost archaeologist in Iceland. He was born and bred in Svarfaðardalur. In 1947 he became head of the National Museum of Iceland. Kristján was elected the president of Iceland in 1968, a post which he held unchallenged until 1980, when he decided that 12 years as a president of Iceland was enough for him.
Returning to the Two Valley research, during he second year in the research position named after the late president at the National Museum, 2016-2017, Hörgárdalur was added to the mix using the same methods as in Svarfaðardalur. An english text was then produced discussing the findings of the research in both Svarfaðardalur and Hörgárdalur. This text, called „A Tale of Two Valleys“, is now under preparation for publication.
Click here to go the weblog for „Miðaldir í skuggsjá Svarfaðardals“.
Grant of excellence awarded
This synthesis provided new insights that spurred on a new hypothesis, put forward by a group of the researchers involved in earlier phases of research and adding several new researchers, in an application for a research grant, a large „grant of excellence“ from the Icelandic Research Fund. This was funded in 2021. The new hypothesis can be breaken down to four statements, as follows.
1. The large number of heathen burials and family churches point to the existence of a freeholder class of independent farmers at the outset and possibly for two or three centuries after the settlement
2. Written documents, f.ex. Guðmundar saga dýra that takes place in Eyjafjörður, other contemporary sagas and medieval documents from the 12th century on shows a different kind of society, with tenant farmers. and an Icelandic landowning elite. When and how did this happen?
3. A large number of new sub-tenant farms appeared in the 12th og 14th century, along with continuing growth of the population. This points to the third hypothesis, that the creation of a new sub-tenant class of peasantry took place after 1100. This hypothesis is mostly based on evidence from archaeology.
4. The upending of 14th century society by Black Death in 1402-1404 took place, with the temporary disappearance of the sub-tenant class but ongoing tenancy and elite control of the land.
Earlier field seasons, the Two Valley project:
2018, 2019 and 2020.
2018, 2019 and 2020.
In the summer of 2018 two archaeologists, Elín Ósk Hreiðarsdóttir and Lilja Björk Pálsdóttir went with two students and Árni Daníel Júlíusson to investigate some sites in Svarfaðardalur. Three sites were targetet, a part of Sveitarlangur in the inner part of Svarfaðardalur, on the farm Þorsteinsstaðir, the Merkjabýli farm near Dalvík (also sometimes called Elínarstaðir after the discoverer of this farm, Elín Ósk Hreiðarsdóttir), and the old sub-tenancy Kot in Skíðadalur. Eventually only the two sites first mentioned were investigated. The results from a trench at Þorsteinsstaðir showed that Sveitarlangur was of the same age as this earth wall elsewhere in Svarfaðardalur. There had been doubt as to what age the settlement in the inner/upper part of Svarfaðardalur (Fram-Svarfaðardalur) was. It showed some characteristics not seen in the lower part, many small farms, few churches and no pre-christian burials, so the hypothesis was that it was settled later than the lower valley. The test trench in Sveitarlangur above Þorsteinsstaðir showed that this was not so, that this part of the valley had been settled and its farmland organised at the same time as the farmland in the lower valley, and a very important piece of evidence was thus obtained.
In May 2019 a team of researchers went to Svarfaðardalur from Reykjavík to do an earth scan with an earth radar („jarðsjá“) at Klaufanes. The team, headed by archaeologist Ómar Valur Jónasson located what seemed to be the remains of an old skáli, which had been dug up by Kristján Eldjárn and his team in 1940. The results seemed promising at the time, but further research showed somewhat different results, as discussed below.
A team of five researchers was active during the summer 2020. Elín Ósk Hreiðarsdóttir, Lilja Björk Pálsdóttir, Lilja Laufey Davíðsdóttir, all archaeologists, and historians Árni Daníel Júlíusson and Axel Kristjánsson did research on the age of four suspected medieval farms and one confirmed, that was revisited by archaeologist for the first time since 1940. That was Klaufanes, also the subject of research with the earth radar during May 2019. The other four medieval ruins investigated were Steindyrakot in Steindyr, Þverárkot in Þverá and Ytra- and Syðra-Tungukot in Tungufell.
The results of the research are that all four of the last mentioned suspected medieval farms were indeed deserted medieval farms. Test trenches were dug into three suspected medieval earth walls connected with these farms, Steindyrakot, Þverárkot and Ytra-Tungukot, and in all of them tephra was found that showed that most likely these farms were inhabited during the period ca. 1100 to 1400. Coring in Syðra-Tungukot showed very similar results.
The results from Klaufanes were less clear. The ruin of an old farmhouse at the site was dug out by Kristján Eldjárn, Hjalti Haraldsson and Baldvin Jóhannesson in September 1940. The ruin was located during the 2019 earth radar investigation mentioned above. However, coring during the 2020 season in Klaufanes showed, along with new information from air photography from 1954 made available to the project by Landmælingar Íslands, that the ruin was slightly further to the north than originally thought. Also the results from the coring in Klaufanes showed that possibly very little was left of the old ruin structure because of farm improvements, plowing etc. Clear results will only be available with test trenches.
The fact that four farms from the middle ages were found in Svarfaðardalur in addition to Klaufanes, which Kristján Eldjárn believed was a 10th century structure, is very interesting. The four farms seem to have been ordinary small farms inhabited for a long time, several hundred years, with family farming with cows and sheep. The fact that no contemporary evidence about these farms is available makes it very necessary to do more research on them.
Aim and scope
The aim of the project is to answer questions on the development of social stratification between 870-1500 (all dates are AD) in two northern valleys in Iceland: Svarfaðardalur and Hörgárdalur. This is a central question in Icelandic historiography that has never received proper attention. There are indications for an egalitarian society offarmers in the first part of the period, ca. 870-1100. Written sources appear just before 1200. By then, distinct and wide social stratification in Svarfaðardalur and Hörgárdalur was already established. How and why did the class system end in this result?
The hypothesis of an egalitarian society will be tested by research in upper-Svarfaðardalur and Hörgárdalur, where the evidence for the existence of free farmers is lacking, but where there are indications for settlement in the period 870-1100. The lack of written sources for the period requires that historical questions are answered through environmental archaeology, palaeoecology and geology. Evidence from written sources has given rise to two further problems for the period 1100-1500, also to be addressed via archaeological and environmental science methods: The potential development of a sub-tenant class between 1100-1400, and the social and economic consequences of the 1402-1404 pandemic. Written sources indicate an eradication of the old social structure and the creation of a new one around then. How is this observable in archaeology and ecology?
Previous research by the Two Valley team
in Svarfaðardalur and Hörgárdalur
in Svarfaðardalur and Hörgárdalur
Survey and earth wall research
The present team of archaeologist, paleoecologists and historians has done extensive research in the Two Valley area before. Around the turn of the millennium and until 2008, the entire area was surveyed for archaeological remains for the first time by a team from the Fornleifastofnun Íslands (FSÍ), among them Elín Ósk Hreiðarsdóttir, Stefán Ólafsson, Orri Vésteinsson, who are all connected with the present research, and many others. The survey showed a large number of many kinds of remains. Among the most interesting for the present research is the many deserted farms. Also the many deserted shielings or summer farms that in the old times were used for butter and skyr production from cow and sheep milk. A huge system of earth walls designed to control land use was also found. A separate projects was organized and in 2010 Elín Ósk Hreiðarsdóttir investigated the age of the earth wall system. It was dated to have been established in around 950, and parts of it were still in use in the 14th century. After that it declined and fell out of use.
Zooarchaeological research in Hörgárdalur
Around 2005 research started into the zooarchaeology of the Hörgárdalur area in connection with research at Gásir, the long abandoned place of commerce at the mouth of Hörgá. Ramona Harrison and Howell Roberts did extensive research into among other things the zooarchaeology at a site called Skuggi in Hörgárdalur, at Oddstaðir in Hörgárdalur and Möðruvellir. Among the results was the PhD thesis of Ramona Harrison, in 2013. Among the most important results of this research was the ratio of cattle to sheep. The ratio at the two sites of Skuggi and Oddstaðir was slightly different, with Skuggi having around 6 sheep to each cow. In Oddsstaðir the ratio was closer to 3 or 4 sheep to each cow, which meant that cows were predominant – one cow was roughly equal in production volume to six ewes. At Skuggi cows and ewes provided half of the milk and meat each.
Historical research combining written documents and archaeological research
In 2015, the National Museum of Iceland decided to award the Dr. Kristján Eldjárn research fellowship to Árni Daníel Júlíusson. It was renewed the year after. The goal of the research program was to write a history of Svarfaðardalur 870 to 1500 using all available sources, the plentiful written material starting after 1100, some of which gave information on the period before that time, and the archaeological surveys and archaeological research already available, which sheds light on the whole period. The result was a synthesis of sources creating an integrated account of the history of the valley, published as a monograph to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of Dr. Kristján Eldjárn´s birth, 6 December 2016. The monograph is called Miðaldir í skuggsjá Svarfaðardals, which can be translated roughly as „The Middle Ages in the Mirror of Svarfaðardalur“. Kristján was in his time the foremost archaeologist in Iceland. He was born and bred in Svarfaðardalur. In 1947 he became head of the National Museum of Iceland. Kristján was elected the president of Iceland in 1968, a post which he held unchallenged until 1980, when he decided that 12 years as a president of Iceland was enough for him.
Returning to the Two Valley research, during he second year in the research position named after the late president at the National Museum, 2016-2017, Hörgárdalur was added to the mix using the same methods as in Svarfaðardalur. An english text was then produced discussing the findings of the research in both Svarfaðardalur and Hörgárdalur. This text, called „A Tale of Two Valleys“, is now under preparation for publication.
Click here to go the weblog for „Miðaldir í skuggsjá Svarfaðardals“.
Grant of excellence awarded
This synthesis provided new insights that spurred on a new hypothesis, put forward by a group of the researchers involved in earlier phases of research and adding several new researchers, in an application for a research grant, a large „grant of excellence“ from the Icelandic Research Fund. This was funded in 2021. The new hypothesis can be breaken down to four statements, as follows.
1. The large number of heathen burials and family churches point to the existence of a freeholder class of independent farmers at the outset and possibly for two or three centuries after the settlement
2. Written documents, f.ex. Guðmundar saga dýra that takes place in Eyjafjörður, other contemporary sagas and medieval documents from the 12th century on shows a different kind of society, with tenant farmers. and an Icelandic landowning elite. When and how did this happen?
3. A large number of new sub-tenant farms appeared in the 12th og 14th century, along with continuing growth of the population. This points to the third hypothesis, that the creation of a new sub-tenant class of peasantry took place after 1100. This hypothesis is mostly based on evidence from archaeology.
4. The upending of 14th century society by Black Death in 1402-1404 took place, with the temporary disappearance of the sub-tenant class but ongoing tenancy and elite control of the land.
Earlier field seasons, the Two Valley project:
2018, 2019 and 2020.
2018, 2019 and 2020.
In the summer of 2018 two archaeologists, Elín Ósk Hreiðarsdóttir and Lilja Björk Pálsdóttir went with two students and Árni Daníel Júlíusson to investigate some sites in Svarfaðardalur. Three sites were targetet, a part of Sveitarlangur in the inner part of Svarfaðardalur, on the farm Þorsteinsstaðir, the Merkjabýli farm near Dalvík (also sometimes called Elínarstaðir after the discoverer of this farm, Elín Ósk Hreiðarsdóttir), and the old sub-tenancy Kot in Skíðadalur. Eventually only the two sites first mentioned were investigated. The results from a trench at Þorsteinsstaðir showed that Sveitarlangur was of the same age as this earth wall elsewhere in Svarfaðardalur. There had been doubt as to what age the settlement in the inner/upper part of Svarfaðardalur (Fram-Svarfaðardalur) was. It showed some characteristics not seen in the lower part, many small farms, few churches and no pre-christian burials, so the hypothesis was that it was settled later than the lower valley. The test trench in Sveitarlangur above Þorsteinsstaðir showed that this was not so, that this part of the valley had been settled and its farmland organised at the same time as the farmland in the lower valley, and a very important piece of evidence was thus obtained.
In May 2019 a team of researchers went to Svarfaðardalur from Reykjavík to do an earth scan with an earth radar („jarðsjá“) at Klaufanes. The team, headed by archaeologist Ómar Valur Jónasson located what seemed to be the remains of an old skáli, which had been dug up by Kristján Eldjárn and his team in 1940. The results seemed promising at the time, but further research showed somewhat different results, as discussed below.
A team of five researchers was active during the summer 2020. Elín Ósk Hreiðarsdóttir, Lilja Björk Pálsdóttir, Lilja Laufey Davíðsdóttir, all archaeologists, and historians Árni Daníel Júlíusson and Axel Kristjánsson did research on the age of four suspected medieval farms and one confirmed, that was revisited by archaeologist for the first time since 1940. That was Klaufanes, also the subject of research with the earth radar during May 2019. The other four medieval ruins investigated were Steindyrakot in Steindyr, Þverárkot in Þverá and Ytra- and Syðra-Tungukot in Tungufell.
The results of the research are that all four of the last mentioned suspected medieval farms were indeed deserted medieval farms. Test trenches were dug into three suspected medieval earth walls connected with these farms, Steindyrakot, Þverárkot and Ytra-Tungukot, and in all of them tephra was found that showed that most likely these farms were inhabited during the period ca. 1100 to 1400. Coring in Syðra-Tungukot showed very similar results.
The results from Klaufanes were less clear. The ruin of an old farmhouse at the site was dug out by Kristján Eldjárn, Hjalti Haraldsson and Baldvin Jóhannesson in September 1940. The ruin was located during the 2019 earth radar investigation mentioned above. However, coring during the 2020 season in Klaufanes showed, along with new information from air photography from 1954 made available to the project by Landmælingar Íslands, that the ruin was slightly further to the north than originally thought. Also the results from the coring in Klaufanes showed that possibly very little was left of the old ruin structure because of farm improvements, plowing etc. Clear results will only be available with test trenches.
The fact that four farms from the middle ages were found in Svarfaðardalur in addition to Klaufanes, which Kristján Eldjárn believed was a 10th century structure, is very interesting. The four farms seem to have been ordinary small farms inhabited for a long time, several hundred years, with family farming with cows and sheep. The fact that no contemporary evidence about these farms is available makes it very necessary to do more research on them.