Report of Archaeofauna from Undir Sandmúla and Undir Bálabrekku, Bárðdælahreppur, N Iceland

Small archaeofauna from two highland sites located above 400 m above sea level, over 100 km inland in the upper reaches of the Skjálfandafljót river valley indicate the early presence of human settlement in this far inland area. While heavily deflated, the site of Undir Sandmúla produced an archaeofauna from stratified context directly above the Landnam sequence tephra, probably dating to the late 9th or early 10th century. This collection is from a highly burnt ”fireplace cleaning” deposit which limits the survival of fish and bird bones, but a quantifiable number of mammal bone fragments could be identified. The domestic mammal assemblage strongly indicates the presence of a full farm with some variant of the mix of species associated with the Settlement Age in Iceland (cattle, horse, pig, sheep).

两处海拔高于400米的高地遗址的小型考古动物群（archaeofauna）样本，采自深入内陆超100公里的斯恰班达弗洛特河（Skjálfandafljót）河谷上游区域，表明这片偏远内陆地区早在早期便已有人类定居活动。尽管翁迪尔桑德穆拉（Undir Sandmúla）遗址遭受严重剥蚀，但其仍产出了采自兰德纳姆层火山灰正上方层序埋藏环境中的考古动物群样本，其年代大概率为9世纪末至10世纪初。该批样本采自一处经强烈焚烧的“壁炉清理堆积”沉积层，这类沉积环境会大幅抑制鱼类与鸟类骨骼的保存，但仍有可量化的哺乳动物骨碎片得以被识别鉴定。该家养哺乳动物组合强烈表明，这片区域曾存在一座完整的农牧场，其物种组合与冰岛定居时代的典型物种组合存在一定变体，涵盖牛、马、猪、羊四类家畜。