Archaeology

The aim of this project was a development of a database for the analysis of the pottery assemblage from excavations at Stóraborg. The Stóraborg excavations were the largest rescue excavations in Icelandic archaeology till the present. Consisting of a farm-mound dated from the 12th to the first half of 19th century, Stóraborg produced one of the larger pottery collections in Iceland. The provenance and dating of the material was conducted using the visual examination of the clay fabric. By developing this database and making it accessible to other researchers, I believe the basic requirements were established for future work and development in pottery analysis in Icelandic archaeology

Medieval monasteries were commonly located on major routes, as they were open to everyone in need for assistance. Still, an excavation carried out on the ruins of the Augustinian Skriðuklaustur monastery (A.D. 1493-1554) revealed suchlike institution situated in a remote inland valley of eastern Iceland. However, the business of the brethren directed the focus towards a forgotten path between the southern and eastern parts of Iceland over the Vatnajökull glacier, placing the monastery in a major route. The path was lost in A.D. 1640 because of climate changes but when it was still accessible the monastery was the first or last stopover when passing the highlands on the way to the south coast of Iceland. The example from Skriðuklaustur monastery demonstrates how the interplay between culture and nature constantly forges human life and society.

This study aimed to evaluate the possible use of mercury as a medical treatment at the medieval monastic hospital Skriðuklaustur (AD 1494–1554) in eastern Iceland. The individuals excavated from Skriðuklaustur exhibited a wide range of pathological conditions , including the only skeletal evidence of venereal syphilis in Iceland. Skeletal remains from the Skeljastaðir cemetery (ca. AD 1000–1104) in southern Iceland were also analysed in light of the site's proximity to the mercury emitting volcano Hekla. The eruption produced a severe toxic fallout resulting in the mass mortality of livestock and is believed to have caused the abandonment of Skeljastaðir and the other farms in the region. The skeletal analyses and sampling were conducted according to standard anthropological methods. Mercury concentrations were determined in human (n = 50), faunal (n = 23), and soil (n = 22) samples using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Individuals from both sites exhibited elevated mercury concentrations. At Skriðuklaustur, some individuals showed normal concentrations, but those with pathological conditions (e.g., hydatidosis, syphilis, tuberculosis, and other non‐specific infections) had the highest concentrations overall. On the other hand, all the individuals analysed from Skeljastaðir exhibited elevated mercury concentrations, some of which were remarkably high. A few of the individuals buried at Skeljastaðir post‐date the eruption, possibly indicating that some of them experienced heavy exposure to volcanic emissions. The less extreme concentrations at Skriðuklaustur may be a result of attention to dosage and the temporary nature of mercurial treatments. None of the faunal and soil samples presented with concentrations exceeding the normal limit, implying that diagenesis was not a concern in this research. The conclusion is that a variety of factors from medical treatment to scholarly work lead to mercury exposure at Skriðuklaustur, whereas at Skeljastaðir, volcanogenic emissions are implicated.

Opportunities to directly study the founding of a human population and its subsequent evolutionary history are rare. Using genome sequence data from 27 ancient Icelanders, we demonstrate that they are a combination of Norse, Gaelic, and admixed individuals. We further show that these ancient Icelanders are markedly more similar to their source populations in Scandinavia and the British-Irish Isles than to contemporary Icelanders, who have been shaped by 1100 years of extensive genetic drift. Finally, we report evidence of unequal contributions from the ancient founders to the contemporary Icelandic gene pool. These results provide detailed insights into the making of a human population that has proven extraordinarily useful for the discovery of genotype-phenotype associations.

Icelandic medieval monastic sites–vegetation and flora, cultural-and relict plants, contemporary plant-names The colonization of Iceland began in the late 9th century and in the year 1000 the Althing chose Christianity to replace paganism as the religion of the country. The bishopric of Skálholt was established in 1056 and Hólar in 1106. There are traces of twelve to fifteen monasteries, of which nine are recognized as having lasted for some time. Of these only Skriðuklaustur has been fully excavated, exhibiting a European ...