The Hofstaðir Archaeofauna

Early stages of the investigations at Hofstaðir directed by the Archaeological
Institute Iceland revealed that substantial amounts of well-preserved animal bone
were present in contexts throughout the site, with a major concentration in the fill
of the large sunken featured structure G. The site directors kindly involved the
NABO zooarchaeologists (led through various seasons by Tom McGovern and
Sophia Perdikaris), and the zooarchaeology team was able to participate directly
in the field excavations from 1996 onwards. The modern open area excavation of
this major Viking Age hall and its associated buildings offered a unique
opportunity for North Atlantic zooarchaeology, allowing comparisons of bone
assemblages from fully excavated middens and structures and the combination
of horizontal and vertical stratigraphic perspectives on the interpretation of site
formation processes. The close cooperation between excavators and specialists
continued from fieldwork through post-excavation analysis, and has
unquestionably improved the quality of this report.
The analysis and interpretation of the Hofstaðir archaeofauna has also greatly
benefited from comparative zooarchaeological evidence from contemporary
nearby sites in the Mývatn area (Mývatnssveit) carried out under the larger
Landscapes of Settlement project, and this analysis will make use of comparative
zooarchaeological data from the contemporary sites of Sveigakot (SVK) and
Hrísheimar (HRH).