Hrísheimar 2005, Interim Report (field report)

The excavations at Hrísheimar have now been in progress for five years (2000-05) and
this report presents the preliminary results of the 2005 season. The site area is at the edge
of the active erosion front in this part of Mývatnssveit, and clearly much of the original
land surface and archaeological deposits have been destroyed completely by wind
erosion. However the site has proven to be surprisingly productive and continued
investigations have opened up some unexpected new perspectives on Settlement Age
economy and settlement.
For the first two years the focus of the work was on surveying and test trenching for
assessment rather than on large scale excavation, although a quantifiable archaeofauna
was recovered from the 2001 season (McGovern & Tinsley 2001). In 2003 and 2004 the
work intensified with the opening of two large excavation areas, one along the ridgeline
above the main farm ruin, the other in an area below the farm ruin that was still covered
with grass and appeared to contain intact deposits.
If we were to properly understand the emerging complex of structures and middens, and
to effectively connect the tephra horizons with the rich midden deposits, we clearly
needed a major expansion of the excavation unit rather than the series of smaller ad hoc
expansions carried out in 2004. Three small test pits dug in 2003 (M, N, P) 8 meters
north of the L unit had all struck cultural material at ca 70 cm below the modern surface,
suggesting that more cultural material was preserved in situ to the north of the 2003-04
midden unit L. We decided to open a much larger excavation unit in 2005 in this area to
the north of the previous excavation units.