Glaumbær: Overview and assessment of the results of the 2001-2014 investigations

This report outlines the broad results of the 2001-2014 work at Glaumbær in Skagafjörður, North Iceland. The project was a collaborative effort between archeologists from United States and The Skagafjörður Heritage Museum. We describe the two habitation areas of Glaumbær: Upper Glaumbær and Lower Glaumbær which are spatially and temporally distinct. That these two areas are distinct in time and space imply that they are all part of a single unit that has relocated. The older Viking Age remains at Lower Glaumbær consist of a main long house, its associated midden, and an outbuilding, potentially a barn. The earliest AMS date was from a charred barley seed recovered from the limited excavations, which yielded a calibrated range of AD 890–982 (a midpoint of AD 936). The longhouse (Icel. skáli), midden, and outbuilding at Lower Glaumbær were abandoned well before the 1104 tephra layer fell as Lower Glaumbær was probably occupied for a little over 100 years. At Upper Glaumbær, sometime between AD 1000 and 1104, a midden began forming south of the churchyard and east of the standing turf house. Because no evidence for other structures was identified at Upper Glaumbær (e.g., floors, or walls) it is assumed that this earliest midden at Upper Glaumbær is associated with a structure in the same location as the standing turf structure. Midden deposition shifted to the location of the current visible ash pile soon after the 1104 tephra layer fell. Both of these midden deposits are consistent with long-term occupation in the location of the standing turf structure. However, only the area around the standing turf house south of the churchyard has been archaeologically investigated. Today, the visible structures at Upper Glaumbær consist of the modern church, its churchyard, the standing turf house, its associated ash pile to the southwest. Lower and Upper Glaumbær, attest to a relocation of farmstead activities sometime about 1050, and should be treated as the same archaeological site, representing a continuous occupation in two different discrete locations.