RH_Möðruvellir_HERC_NORSEC_Report_NR_59

This report presents results on zooarchaeological analysis from the Möðruvellir Midden Mound, or Öskuhóll, adjacent to the site’s extensive farm mound. Möðruvellir, likely a chieftain’s farm during the Settlement period, became House of Canons/Augustinian Monastery in the late 13th C, and remained an important ecclesiastical center even after the Reformation. Beyond functioning as religious institution, it served as seat for the regional governor for the Danish Crown at least
during the Early Modern Period, and also operated a practical secondary school from the later 1870s on (Karlsson 2000:258). Möðruvellir is still inhabited by the local priest, masses are still held, and among other things the estate is home to an Experimental Station of the Agricultural University in Iceland. The Möðruvellir faunal collections include materials from the 13th to the 19th/20th c. Excavations on the Möðruvellir Ash Mound (Öskuhóll) were undertaken between 2006-08 and
concentrated mainly on the contents of one large trench, TR1 and one smaller one -TR2b.