Faunal Analysis from the 2005 Excavation at Aðalstræti Nr. 10 in Reykjavík, Iceland (lab report)

In 2005, Archaeological excavations at the site of Aðalstræti in downtown
Reykjavík were carried out under direction of Mjöll Snæsdóttir and Howell M. Roberts
from the Archaeological Institute of Iceland (FSÍ). Reason for these archaeological
activities was a planned rebuilding and reparation of the house at Aðalstræti 10, whose
building date falls into the latter half of the 18
th
Century (Snæsdóttir, 2005 – English
translation). Phase one of the investigations involved a series of test trenches, dug on the
western part of the plot in January and February of 2005, revealing neither archaeological
remains from the Viking age nor from the 18
th
Century. According to Snæsdóttir
(Snæsdóttir 2007), the early modern remains from Aðalstræti 10 lie to the north of the old
Reykjavík farm (Fig 2) which dates back to Settlement period (Markússon in Vésteinsson
2004).
The inside foundation of the house at Aðalstræti 10 was excavated in August to
September of 2005, yielding bone material which weighed about 30 kg. The excavators
found rows of stones associated with the original wooden floor of the present building as
well as several thick cultural layers underneath which were dated to the 18
th
century AD,
mainly based on pottery and clay-pipe fragments. The archaeofauna is associated with
these pre 1760s AD cultural layers which predominantly consisted of peat ash from fireplaces. The 2005 Aðalstræti archaeofauna is thus roughly datable to the early 18
th
to late
17
th
centuries AD (at the beginning of the process of urbanization at Reykjavik), and
appears to be closely associated with the Early Modern farm buildings.
This NORSEC Bone report uses zooarchaeological data from the analyzed faunal
remains gathered during the 2005 rescue excavation of the 18th century house in
Aðalstræti. A total of 30 kg of faunal materials were analyzed for this report. Bone rich
contexts were sampled for bulk and additional flotation samples were wet-sieved through
1 mm mesh.

2005年，冰岛考古研究所（Archaeological Institute of Iceland, FSÍ）的Mjöll Snæsdóttir与Howell M. Roberts主持了雷克雅未克市中心阿达尔斯特雷蒂（Aðalstræti）遗址的考古发掘工作。本次考古活动的起因是对阿达尔斯特雷蒂10号房屋进行计划中的重建与修缮，该房屋的建造年代可追溯至18世纪后半叶（Snæsdóttir, 2005，英文原文译）。
本次调查的第一阶段于2005年1月至2月在地块西侧开展了一系列探方（test trenches）发掘，结果未发现维京时代（Viking Age）或18世纪的考古遗存。据Snæsdóttir（2007）的研究，阿达尔斯特雷蒂10号的近代早期遗存位于老雷克雅未克农场以北（图2），该农场的年代可追溯至定居时期（Markússon in Vésteinsson 2004）。
2005年8月至9月，考古人员对阿达尔斯特雷蒂10号房屋的内部地基进行了发掘，出土了约30千克的骨骼材料。发掘团队发现了与当前建筑原有木地板相关的石砌排布，以及其下方数层较厚的文化层（cultural layers），这些文化层的年代可通过陶器与陶管碎片断代为公元18世纪。与这些公元1760年之前的文化层伴生的考古动物群（archaeofauna），主要由壁炉中的泥炭灰构成。因此，2005年阿达尔斯特雷蒂遗址出土的动物遗存大致可断代为公元17世纪末至18世纪初（正值雷克雅未克城市化进程初期），且似乎与近代早期农场建筑密切相关。
本份NORSEC骨骼报告采用了2005年对阿达尔斯特雷蒂18世纪房屋开展抢救性发掘（rescue excavation）过程中采集的动物遗存（faunal remains）的动物考古学（zooarchaeology）分析数据。本次报告共分析了30千克的动物材料。针对富骨遗存开展了整批采样（bulk samples），并通过1毫米网目的湿筛法获取了额外的浮选样品（flotation samples）。