Midden Investigations at Holt, S Iceland, July 2003

During July 14th-17th the CUNY Northern Science & Education Center
(NORSEC) collaborated with the National Museum of Iceland and the
Leverhulme Trust Project “Lanscapes Circum Landnam” in the investigation
of possible midden deposits around the farm of in S Iceland. The
investigations were supervised by Dr. Guðrun Sveinbjarnardóttir for the National
Museum of Iceland and by Drs. Sophia Perdikaris and Thomas McGovern of the
City University of New York (CUNY) and Drs. Andrew Dugmore and Mike Church
for the University of Edinburgh. The project was greatly aided by the work of the
CUNY students participating in the 2003 Research Experience for
Undergraduates (REU) program supported by a major grant (US National
Science Foundation, Arctic Social Sciences Program) to Dr. Perdikaris. All
artifacts, finds, photos and site records are archived at the Icelandic National
Museum, and a CD with a full digital archive accompanies this report.
The objectives of the 2003 investigations were to:
1. Relocate geological sections taken along drainage ditches near the farm
of Holt first excavated in 1980 by teams led by Dr. Paul Buckland.
2. Determine relationship of possible midden materials lo in 1980’s to
the farm site nearby.
3. Locate midden deposits with intact stratification and conditions of
organic preservation.
4. Sample midden deposits for artifacts, animal bone, wood, and soil
micromorphology.
5. Train students in stratigraphic excavation and recording of complex
midden deposits.