Surtshellir Underground Economy

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Three features were identified, mapped, andinvestigated at Surtshellr in 2001: an intact dry-stone dwelling (FiS. 2); a well-preserved, bone-richmidden beside it (Fig.3 and 5); and a massive fortifi-cation wall. All are located deep within the cave.The fortification wall, 13 meters long and standing,in places, to a height of 2.5 meters, was locatednearly 100 meters into the cave, on the edge of anopening produced by roof collapse. More than 70meters farther into the cave, a secondary passageopens 5 meters above the floor of the main tunneland crosses it at an acute angle. The northern spurof this passage, known as Beinahellir ("bonecave"), is said once to have contained extensivedeposits of animal bone, although none exist theretoday. Howeve thirty meters into the southernbranch ofths upper passage stands a unique dry-stone structure with an associated midden, nearly

200 meters from the cave's entrance. The presenceof structural remains and associated middendeposits in this passage, called Vgishellir ("fortresscave"), has been known since at leastthe late lTthcentury (rarsson 1910; Laxness 1g49, t97t; laf-

Fig. 2. }verview of the building with curved walls anda gable-end fireplace. (K. Snith).

Fig. 3. Plan of stone-built structure and midden de-posits in Vgishellir.

sson 1978; Hrarsson 1990; Jnsson and Hrarsson1992), but had never been systematically docu-mented until the 2001 investigations.The structure in Vgishellir is 7 m long and 3.b mwide (Fig. 2 and 3). lts 0.5-0.8 meter thick dry-stonewalls stand 0.8-.l.0 meters high and appear to beundisturbed, suggesting that this structure, whchmay have had a perishable superstructure, is sub-stantially intact. Like many Viking Age halls it nar-rows towards the gables where it is 1.5 m wide.wo doorways, each 0.8-1.0 meters wide, located inthe centers of the two long-walls, give access to.the structure and to the depths of the cave beyond.However, the structure itself is built across the pas-sage, blocking access to the cave's darker..,L^.^ ^^ ^,J-l+i^^^l ^..1+,.,-l l^^^^:^I uos, vvt tEt ttu ouutLtuilot t uttul dl uupu5ll,5have been observed. ln the eastern gable a niche inthe wall forms a fireplace; a second niche n thesouthwestern wall may have been used for storage.No traces of benches or sleeping alcoves are vis-ible. ln the central and eastern portions of thestructure a thin (


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IIII

indicate the use of some sort of blunt instrument tosmash open bones. The basic techniques includedchopping and longitudinally splitting long boneswithout evidence for the distinctive dual pedorationof caprine metapodials most commonly encoun-tered on lcelandic sites after ca AD 1100 (Bigelow1985). ThiS level of bone fragmentation and boneprocessing is familiar from later medieval Green-landic collections but is unusual in earlier lcelandicarchaeofa una. Horse butchery clea rly ndic atesthat this species was consumed for food atVgishellir, supportng a pre-Conversion (e.g. gth-1Othcentury) age for the collection.

Ae r nr DrRruThe Vgishellir collection is too small and too frag-mented to allow reliable reconstruction of age pro-files for any taxon. However, it is clear from theteeth preserved that fully mature cattle, pigs, horse,sheep, and goat were consumed and that somejuveniles were also eaten. The tooth wear on the

pigs, cattle, and caprines, in particular, indicatesthat multiple individuals of different ages were con-sumed.One caprine tooth (dp4), assigned to Grant's(19821wear class "h", would conventionally beplaced in the 9-12 month range (but see discussionin Enghoff 2003:54-56). lf born in May, as are most

lcelandic sheep (Aalsteinsson 1991), this animalmost likely died in the late winter or early spring ofits first year. 0ne late fetal or very newly born pigletphalanx was present, but may have been trans-ported within a pregnant sow. Missing entrelyfromthe Vgishellir collection are the remains of new-born (neonatal) cattle bones. These are common onmost lcelandic farm sites, reaching 40% of all iden-tified cattle bones at Hrsheimar'

CoupRRRrvE PATTERNSFig. 5 compares the Vgishellir domestic mammalcollection with the other currently available lce-landic archaeofauna of the gthto early 12th centuries

lceland

E,o:i- 'odc

t.Lz6EE=oEo

E;Fu)D Cattle ffi Horse E Pig CaPrine

+

oEO;

12tr c

c:o!-?so:(D

EOEIcrI

opE(n

coVv)

Fig.5. Domestic mammal proportions in quantifiable th-lVh century lcelandic archaeofaunas

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(the collections are arranged from left to rght inrough chronological order). Tjarnargata 4 is fromReykjavk, Herjolfsdalur is from the Westmanlslands, Sveigakot (SVK) is a stratified collectionfrom M'ivatnssveit, VGH (arrow) is Vgishellir. Sel-hagi (SLH) is a stratified collection from Mfvatns-sveit, Hofstair (HST) is a stratified collection fromMrivatnssveit, Hrsheimar (HRH) is from M'ivatns-sveit, Granastadir (GST)s from Eyjafjrd, andSvalbar is from istlfjt'd n northeastern lceland(McGovern et a1.2001). The Vgishellir collection isnot out of place in this series. lts mix of cattle, pigs,horses, and caprines resembles that of severalmiddle- to upper-ranked late 9'h and 1Oth centurylcelandic farms. lf we had only these data, wemight conclude that this collection was from a fairlyprosperous Settlement Age farm.However, as Fig. 6 shows, the Vgishellir collec-tion is exceptonal when all of the major identifiedtaxa are considered - no other lcelandic collectionfrom any period consists entirely of domestic mam-mals and many Settlement Age collections aredominated, instead, by wild species.

Ournrrs AND tNTRPRETATIoNSSurtshellir is an unusual Viking Age lcelandic site.Place names within the cave, coupled with the doc-umented archaeological features and deposits,suggest a relatively extensive and complex suite ofarchaeological remains including fortifications, asubterranean house, middens, and extremely thinand fragile occupation deposits. The main habita-tion zone is located c. 200 meters from the cave'sentrance, well beyond the penetration of any nat-ural light. Separated from the entrance passages bya massive fortification wallin a hidden side pas-sage, it was obviously not meant to be an acces-sible place. The thickness of the midden layershows that it accumulated over some time. AMSdates confirm a late Ith or 1Oth century age for thebone-bearing deposits, while the form of the adja-cent structure bears many similarities to knownViking Age halls. The massive wall spanning themain tunnel, the presence of fire-starter fragmentswith potentally distant and diverse origins, and theunusual archaeofauna recovered from Vgishellir all

+

o-g,qtcf(od)(.c(,

e

NN!E:f r1U) U)

OFpoCVLa-'o u)o.:Co:>EEP6c>tEJ;ES;-+!r*r'EEtsrt)ll'tVi= >>-tnrr II

E Total Domestic El Birds E Cetacea E Seals N Caribou El Other Mammal D Fish E MolluscaFig.6. Proportions of domestic and wild taxa in quantifiable th-lZh century lcelandic archaeofaunas.

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IPlsson, H. and Edwards, P. (trans.)1972 The.Book of Setttements (Landnmabk)' University of

Manitoba lcelandic Studies, Vol' 1' University of Mani-toba Press, WinniPeg.

Perdikaris, S., Amundsen, C. and McGovern, I H.2002 Reportof Animal BonesfromTjarnargata3C, Reykjavk, lce-land, report on file with Fornleifastofnun slands, Reykiavfk'

Smith. K. P.2004 lndependent people, householders and outlaws: reconcil-ing economic autonomy, political centralization, and tradein medieval lceland. Paper presented atthe 69th AnnualMeeting of the Societyfor American Archaeology, Montral'

rarson, M.1910 Tveir hellar Hallmundarhraunl Skrnir' 331-351'

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Dynamics of Northern SocietiesProceedings of the SILA/NAB0 Conferenceon Arctic and Nofth Atlantic Archaeology,Copenha gen, May 1 0th-1 4th, 2004

Edited byJette Arneborg & Bjarne Grnnow

SILA -The Greenland Research Centreat the National Museum of Denmark

s-*ffiPNMPublications from the National Museum

Studies in Archaeology & History Vol. 10Copenhagen 206


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Publications from the National MuseumDynamics of Northern SocietiesProceedings of the SlLA,/NAB0 Conferenceon Arctic and North Atlantic Archaeology,Copenhagen, May 1 Oth-14, 2004Editors ofthe PNM series: Poul Grinder-Hansen & Lars JrgensenCopyright The National Museum of Denmarkand all individual authorsAll rights ieservedEdited by Jette Arneborg and Bjarne GrnnowTechnical edition: Niels Alqreen MllerEdito.rial advisor::.lrlqll" Appelt colleen Barey, H.c. Gullv, Einar Lund Jensen, Ditlev Mahler,Jom Mc{jovern, Ulla odgaard, Anne Pedersen, Mikkel Srensen. 0rri VesteinssonLinguistic revision: Aoife DalyCover design by Marianne BlankProduced by Special-Trykkeriet. Byens Tryk a-sPublished by The National Museum of Denmark12, Frederiksholms Kanal. DK-1220 Copenhagen KISBN: 87-7602-052-5ISSN:0909EAN code: 97 8877 6020521This book is available direct from:The National MuseumThe Museum Shop12, Frederiksholms KanalDK-1220 Copenhagen KFax: + 45 [email protected] Proceedings are funded by:SILA - The Greenland Research Centre t the National Museum of DenmarkThe Department of Research and Exhibition, National Museum of DenmarkCover: Hatherton Bugt, lnglefield Land, 1997.Original photo by Bjarne Grnnow


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