Byock, Jesse L. et al.. A viking-age valley in Iceland

• Author: Byock, Jesse L. et al.
• Title: A viking-age valley in Iceland. The Mosfell archaelogical project
• Published in: Medieval Archaeology. Journal of the Society for Medieval Archaeology 49
• Year: 2005
• Pages: 195-218
• E-text:
• Reference: Byock, Jesse L. et al. "A viking-age valley in Iceland. The Mosfell archaelogical project." Medieval Archaeology. Journal of the Society for Medieval Archaeology 49 (2005): 195-218.

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• Key words: topography, archaeology (staðfræði, fornleifafræði)

Annotation

An account of the history and recent findings of the Mosfell Archaeological Project as of 2005. Excavations in Mosfellsdalur and the surrounding region (Mosfellssveit) have been ongoing since the early 1990s and make use of medieval narrative sources including Egils saga. A site hypothesised to be the Hrísbrú church featured in Egils saga has been unearthed. Egil’s bones were said to have been interred at this church prior to their being moved to the new church at Mosfell.

Lýsing

Lýsing á fornleifarannsóknum að Mosfelli fram til ársins 2005. Uppgröftur hófst í Mosfellsdal og Mosfellssveit snemma á tíunda áratug 20. aldar og var við hann leitað upplýsinga í miðaldabókmenntum, þar á meðal í Egils sögu. Grafið hefur verið upp á stað þar sem menn telja að kirkjan á Hrísbrú hafi staðið en henni er lýst í Eglu. Samkvæmt sögunni voru bein Egils jarðsett þarna, en síðar flutt að nýrri kirkju að Mosfelli.

References

Chapter 89: kirkjugarði að Mosfelli: “In accordance with the saga information that bones were moved to the new churchyard, we found several emptied graves in the old Hrísbrú graveyard. The emptied graves are witnessed by shafts containing small pieces of isolated human bone, apparently missed when the remains were removed from the grave” (p. 208).

Links

• Written by: Katelin Parsons
• Icelandic translation: Jón Karl Helgason