Research

A Place of Legend and Learning

Hofstaðir is not mentioned in the medieval Icelandic sagas, yet oral tradition linking the site to a pagan temple (“hof”) has deep roots. In a 1817 report by the parish priest of Skútustaðir, a ring on the church door in Reykjahlíð is described as possibly originating from “the door of the hof which, in ancient times, is said to have stood here in the valley, at the farm now called Hofstaðir.” By the late 19th century, the site had already made its way into academic literature. The unusually large structures at Hofstaðir sparked widespread interest, seen as evidence of the very temple the place name might reference.

Archaeological investigations at Hofstaðir span a long timeline, from the late 1800s to the present day. This makes the research history of the site particularly fascinating: each generation of scholars has brought new questions and interpretations, grounded in the knowledge and methods of their time. Today’s findings build upon earlier work, offering ever-deeper insight into this rich historical landscape.

For Reflection:

Why has Hofstaðir become one of the most intensively studied archaeological sites in Iceland?
What kinds of research have been carried out here, and what methods have been used?

Daniel Bruun at the archaeological excavation of the feasting hall. © The Institute of Archaeology, Iceland.

Archaeological Research at Hofstaðir

1873

Kristian Kålund (1844-1919), a Danish philologist, spent two years (1872-4) in Iceland, and travelled around the country. His research, published in Bidrag til en historisk-topografisk Beskrivelse af Island (Contribution to a Historical-Topographical Description of Iceland), included a detailed account of the “temple ruins“ and other visible features at Hofstaðir. The site of the hall is described, 20 fathoms in length and five fathoms wide. Sheep sheds (still standing at that time) were built on top of the annexe at the north end of the hall, and to the south is a small circular feature (the pit house). Above the hall site is an enclosure, believed to have been a pen for the horses ridden by those who visited the temple. Kålund describes a field wall that aligns with an old fence: “sturdily built of turf and rock,” the wall lies northward by the slope “as far as the eye can see.” He also reports that “by drilling down into the ‘temple ruins’ a hard-trampled dirt floor has been found one ell [c. 63 cm] beneath the surface; metal fragments are also said to have been found there.”

1896

Daniel Bruun (1856-1931) was a Danish military officer who carried out extensive and high-quality archaeological research for the National Museum of Denmark, mainly in Iceland, Greenland and the Faroes. Bruun first visited Hofstaðir in 1896. His description of the “temple ruins” is similar to Kålund’s two decades earlier.

1901

Brynjúlfur Jónsson (1838-1914) of Minni-Núpur in south Iceland was a self-taught scholar, who was commissioned in 1893 by the Icelandic Archaeological Society to catalogue archaeological sites in Iceland. He visited Hofstaðir in 1901 when he was in north Iceland to work on the project and made a record of archaeological features in the homefield.

1908

In 1908 Daniel Bruun returned to Hofstaðir, this time accompanied by Professor Finnur Jónsson (1858-1934) of the University of Copenhagen. During the summer they explored the site; this was one of the first major archaeological excavations on scientific principles carried out in Iceland. They excavated the entire hall site, explored two annexes to the hall, and cut a trench through the circular feature to the north of the hall. They concluded that the structure was undoubtedly a temple. The hall itself was believed to be a feasting hall, while the annexe at the north end was interpreted as a rostrum for the pagan priests/chieftains. The circular feature was said to be a pit for waste from the feasts. These findings were published internationally, reporting the first excavation of a Viking-Age temple.

1965

Olaf Olsen (1928-2015), an archaeologist from the National Museum of Denmark, visited Hofstaðir in 1965. Olsen’s theory was that temples as such did not exist in the Viking Age – that the spacious halls/longhouses had been chieftains’ homes, where they also hosted feasts for large numbers of guests. Olsen re-excavated Bruun’s trench through the “pit” (the pit house) and concluded that the structure had not been a refuse pit, but a large cooking pit to prepare large quantities of food for feasts.

1991-1992

In 1991 archaeological research recommenced at Hofstaðir under the direction of archaeologists Adolf Friðriksson and Orri Vésteinsson, who were working on all reputed temple sites around the country. In the summer of 1991, a detailed plan of the archaeological site was made, and a year later an exploratory trench was cut across the north end of the hall in an attempt to date the site precisely.

1995-2002

In 1995 the private non-profit Institute of Archaeology was founded. Initially excavations at Hofstaðir were its main focus. Excavations began that year, first in the “pit” south of the hall, then the hall itself and its annexes. In the early years Adolf Friðriksson and Orri Vésteinsson continued to supervise the work, until Gavin Lucas took over in 1998. In 1997 an archaeology field school was established in collaboration with the North Atlantic Biocultural Organisation, NABO: over 200 students from around the world, at different stages of university study, received training at Hofstaðir in archaeological research and scientific methods. The excavations concluded in the summer of 2002. The findings were published in 2009 in Hofstaðir. Excavation of a Viking Age Feasting Hall, edited by Gavin Lucas.

1999-2015

The Register of Estates (1712) by Árni Magnússon and Páll Vídalín states of Hofstaðir: “A house of prayer is reputed to have been here in olden times, which had disappeared before living memory.” In the summer of 1999, a geophysical survey was made of the homefield to the east of the old farm mound at Hofstaðir, in the part of the field known as “the churchyard.” The survey revealed a circular enclosure with a manmade structure at its centre. Exploratory trenches confirmed that this was the site of a church and churchyard. The following year excavation of the churchyard began under the direction of archaeologist Hildur Gestsdóttir. It continued intermittently until 2015. Publication of results is in preparation.

2016 –

Early in 2016 biologist Árni Einarsson, director of the Mývatn Research Station, was examining newly published satellite photos of the Lake Mývatn district which had been taken in 2012. He noticed what appeared to be a circular feature north of the homefield at Hofstaðir. That autumn Orri Vésteinsson dug an exploratory trench there and confirmed that it was a dwelling of the Settlement Era, built shortly after the Settlement Layer of tephra was deposited around 871, and before the volcanic eruption of 940. This previously unknown site has been named í Brekkum. Further initial excavation was then carried out in the vicinity, revealing at least four structures on the new farmstead site, including a hall/longhouse, plus a midden. Above the farmstead site a pagan burial ground was revealed, and in the homefield between the two halls a smithy. Research is still in progress. Further excavation is planned.

Other research in the Mývatn region

In the research at Hofstaðir, archaeologists do not only look down into the ground. They also take account of the context, the farm itself and the surrounding area. Since 1992 more than 1,260 archaeological sites have been catalogued in the Lake Mývatn district. Extensive excavations have taken place at Sveigakot, Hrísheimar and Skútustaðir, as well as many smaller studies. This approach is taken in order to gather material for comparison, and to date and chart human habitation in the research area. Many specialists play a part in the research, focussing on such matters as land use, construction techniques, livestock, patterns of consumption, diet, health, peripheral and other resources, weather, climate change, material and craft culture, religion and funeral customs.

Development of theories

The history of research at Hofstaðir spans nearly 150 years, reflecting developments in theory and technical advances in the field of archaeology. The research questions have been based upon the existing knowledge of the time. New knowledge is acquired from new studies, based upon what has gone before. New theories and interpretations do not mean that the previous ones were “wrong,” but that conditions have been established which make new discoveries possible. Each discovery gives rise to new questions and, while opinions may differ, knowledge progresses. How have theories about Hofstaðir evolved?

1943 Temple or not?

A hof (temple) was believed to have been a religious building where people came together in pre-Christian times to worship the old Norse gods. After the excavation of the Hofstaðir hall in 1908 by Daniel Bruun and Finnur Jónsson, the site was generally believed to be the only definitely identifiable temple site in the Nordic region. But in 1943 Danish archaeologist Aage Roussell (1901-1972) called into question the identification of the site as a temple; it was in fact, he stated, no different from Iron Age halls in Scandinavia. Roussell’s dissenting opinion was the spur for Olaf Olsen’s research of 1965; he concluded that the building was not a specifically religious structure, but a chieftain’s home where feasts were held.

1990s: Are the sagas reliable evidence?

In the late 20th century lively debate took place among the younger generation of archaeologists in Iceland, regarding the role and influence of saga literature in Icelandic archaeology. Previous studies were re-examined, including those from Hofstaðir, which for an entire century had been a key site in the interpretation of religious observance in the Viking Age. The initial objective of research at Hofstaðir was to reconsider temples in Icelandic archaeology, to date the site and to acquire further information on its role – as, in spite of the importance of Hofstaðir, nothing was known of the date of the buildings, and archaeological information was scant regarding their functions.

Fornleifafræðingur að störfum í Brekkum. © Fornleifastofnun Íslands.

Cultural landscape in the Lake Mývatn district

Research at Hofstaðir revealed that conditions there were ideal for answering much broader questions about the first centuries of Icelandic history. Hence a major international multidisciplinary study was launched: Landscapes of Settlement. The project ranged widely around the Lake Mývatn district, with major excavations at Sveigakot, Hrísheimar and Skútustaðir, as well as many smaller studies, exploratory trenches and palaeoecological studies. Through archaeology a tangible story was told of the people who lived in the Lake Mývatn district: the process of settlement and way of life and the prosperity or otherwise of the early generations; adaptation to the new land, and the settlers’ impact upon the environment – and vice versa.

13th to 20th centuries

At Hofstaðir there are four main archaeological areas: the farm mound, the churchyard, the feasting hall and the farmhouse site at Brekkur. Preliminary research has been carried out at Brekkur, and further work is planned in the coming years. While the farm mound has not been systematically studied, indications are that Hofstaðir was inhabited almost continuously from the Viking Age until the mid-20th century, when the farm buildings were moved. This is because the middens of the farm mound extended into the excavation site at the churchyard, which lies directly east of the farm mound. These relics of human habitation provide insight into the life and work of the people of Hofstaðir over the centuries.

More than 4,000 objects were unearthed from the churchyard. The vast majority of these, however, did not relate to the church, but came from the farm, after the churchyard fell out of use.

Although much less research has been carried out on archaeological features of later date, it is clear that considerable change took place at Hofstaðir after the 15th century. The scale of activity at the farmstead and of farming declined, and less fertilisers were applied to the homefield. The period about which least is known is from 1477 to 1717, between the tephra layers deposited in volcanic eruptions in those years. During that time no layers of refuse from the farm mound accumulated within the excavated area. In the 18th century signs of increased activity are seen. More layers of waste from the farm mound accumulated, and the vast majority of objects unearthed date from the 18th century to the 20thcentury. Little or nothing is known of the buildings that stood there. That evidence lies within the farm mound and has yet to be investigated.

The history of the excavations at Hofstaðir reflects the reality of Icelandic archaeological research. The Viking Age may be deemed well researched by comparison with other periods. In the 19th century interest in the oldest relics of the settlement of Iceland (around 900) and the early years of the Old Commonwealth (after 930) steadily increased, in step with an interest in the Sagas of Icelanders and the rise of the nationalist movement for Icelandic self-determination. Interest in and research on the period from the 16th century to the modern era have increased in recent decades, while the later medieval period of foreign rule from the 13th century has received less attention. A research plan has been made for the farm mound at Hofstaðir; this will be an extensive project, as relics of a thousand years of habitation lie hidden in the mound.

References

Much has been written about archaeological research in the Mývatn region: books, academic articles, theses – BA/BS, MA/MS, and PhD – as well as reports. Here you can find a bibliography of archaeological research in the Mývatn area, along with links to most of the sources. This page is continually being updated as more material becomes available.

Books

Árni Einarsson. 2019. Tíminn sefur. Fornaldargarðarnir miklu á Íslandi. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.

Lucas, G. (ritstj.) 2009. Hofstaðir. Excavations of a Viking Age feasting hall in north-eastern Iceland. Reykjavík: Fornleifastofnun Íslands Monograph Series No.1.

Academic articles

Adderley, W.P., Simpson, I.A. & Orri Vésteinsson 2008. Local scale adaptations: a modeled assessment of soil, landscape, microclimatic and management factors in Norse home-field productivities. Geoarchaeology 23, 500-527.

Adolf Friðriksson, & Orri Vésteinsson. 1997. Hofstaðir revisited. Norwegian Archaeological Review, 30(2), 103-112.

Adolf Friðriksson, & Orri Vésteinsson. 1998. Fornleifarannsóknir á Hofstöðum í Mývatnssveit 1991-1992 – Forkönnun. Archaeologia Islandica, 1, 74-91.

Adolf Friðriksson, & Orri Vésteinsson. 1998. Fornleifarannsóknir á Hofstöðum í Mývatnssveit 1995 – gryfja sunnan skála. Archaeologia Islandica, 1, 92-109.

Adolf Friðriksson, & Orri Vésteinsson. 1998. Hofstaðir í Mývatnssveit – Yfirlit 1991-1997. Archaeologia Islandica, 1, 58-73.

Adolf Friðriksson, & Orri Vésteinsson. 2003. Creating a past. A historiography of the settlement of Iceland. In J. H. Barrett (Ed.), Contact, continuity, and collapse. The Norse colonisation of the North Atlantic pp. 139-161 . Turnhout: Brepols Publishing.

Adolf Friðriksson, Orri Vésteinsson& McGovern, T. H. 2004. Recent investigations at Hofstaðir, northern Iceland. In R. A. Housley & G. Coles (Eds.), Atlantic Connections and Adaptations: Economies, environments and subsistence in lands bordering the North Atlantic pp. 191-202. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Ascough, P. L., Church, M. J., Cook, G. T., Árni Einarsson, McGovern, T. H., Dugmore, A. J., & Edwards, K. J. 2014. Stable Isotopic (δ13C and δ15N) Characterization of Key Faunal Resources from Norse Period Settlements in North Iceland. Journal of the North Atlantic, 25-42.

Ascough, P. L., Cook, G. T., Hastie, H., Dunbar, E., Church, M. J., Árni Einarsson, Dugmore, A. J. 2011. An Icelandic freshwater radiocarbon reservoir effect: Implications for lacustrine 14C chronologies. The Holocene, 21, 1073.

Ascough, P., Church, M., Cook, G., Dunbar, E., Hildur Gestsdóttir, McGovern, T. H., Edwards, K. J. 2012. Radiocarbon reservoir effects in human bone collagen from northern Iceland. Journal of Archaeological Science, 39(7), 2261-2271.

Ascough, P., Cook, G., Church, M., Dugmore, A., McGovern, T. H., Dunbar, E., Hildur Gestsdóttir, (2007. Reservoirs and radiocarbon: 14C dating problems in Mývatnssveit Northern Iceland. Radiocarbon, 49(2), 947-961.

Ascough, P., Cook, G., Church, M., Dunbar, E., Árni Einarsson, McGovern, T. H., Hildur Gestsdóttir, 2010. Temporal and spatial variations in 14C reservoir effects: Lake Mývatn, northern Iceland. Radiocarbon, 52(2-3), 1098-1112.

Árni Einarsson, Oddgeir Hansson & Orri Vésteinsson. 2002. An extensive system of medieval earthworks in Northeast Iceland. Archaeologia Islandica, 2, 61-73.

Batey, C. E. 2011. Hofstaðir: Does the artefact assemblage reflect its special status? In S. Sigmundsson (Ed.), Viking settlements and society. Papers from the proceedings of the Sixteenth Viking Congress, Reykjavík and Reykholt August 2009 pp. 18-30. Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornleifafélag & University of Iceland Press.

Batt, C. M., Schmid, M. M. E., & Orri Vésteinsson 2015. Constructing chronologies in Viking Age Iceland: Increasing dating resolution using Bayesian approaches. Journal of Archaeological Science, 62, 161-174.

Brewington, S., Hicks, M., Ágústa Edwald, Árni Einarsson, Anamthawat-Jónsson, K., Cook, G., McGovern, T. H. 2015. Islands of change vs. islands of disaster: Managing pigs and birds in the Anthropocene of the North Atlantic. The Holocene.

Brown, J.L., Simpson, I.A., Morrison, S.J.L., Adderley, W.P., Tisdall, E. & Orri Vésteinsson, 2012. Shieling areas: Historical grazing pressures and landscape responses in northern Iceland. Human Ecology 40, 81-99.

Burns, A. L., Pickering, M., Green, K. A., Pinder, A. P., Hildur Gestsdóttir, Usai, M.-R., Keely, B. J. 2017. Micromorphological and chemical investigation of late-Viking age grave fills at Hofstaðir, Iceland. Geoderma, 306, 183-194.

Campana, M. G., McGovern, T., & Disotell, T. (2012. Evidence for Differential Ancient DNA Survival in Human and Pig Bones from the Norse North Atlantic. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 24(6), 704-708.

Carlisle, T. & Milek, K. 2016. Constructing society in Viking Age Iceland: Rituals and power. Í Dommasnes, L.H., Gutsmiedl-Schümann, D. & Hommedal, A.T. (ritstj.). The Farm as a Social Arena. Waxman, Münster, bls 245-272

Cesario, G.M. & Steinberg, J.M. (2023). Differential deposition of bird body parts in domestic Viking Age middens in Iceland. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 33(4), 689-700.

Collins C.R. 2020. Tuberculosis in medieval Iceland: evidence from Hofstaðir, Keldudalur and Skeljastaðir. Homo. 71(4) 299-316.

Evans Tang, Harriet J. 2021. ‘Feeling at home with animals in Old Norse sources.’, Home Cultures, 18 (2). pp. 83-104.

Hambrecht, G., Feeley, F., Smiarowski, K., Hicks, M., Harrison, R., Brewington, S., Gibbons, K. (2022). A millennium of Icelandic archaeological fish data examined against marine climate records. Quaternary Research, 108, 64-80.

Hamilton, W. D., & Sayle, K. L. 2019. Stable Isotopes, Chronology, and Bayesian Models for the Viking Archaeology of North-East Iceland. The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 14(1), 71-81.

Hicks, M. 2014. Losing sleep counting sheep: Early modern dynamics of hazardous husbandry in Mývatn, Iceland. In R. Harrison & R. A. Maher (Eds.), Human ecodynamics in the North Atlantic pp. 137-152. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books.

Hicks, M., Árni Einarsson, Anamthawat-Jónsson. K, Ágústa Edwald, Þórsson Æ., McGovern, T. H. 2016) Community and Conservation: Documenting Millennial Scale Sustainable Resource Use at Lake Mývatn Iceland. In Oxford University Press Handbook of Historical Ecology and Applied Archaeology. Christian Isendahl & Daryl Stump(eds.) Oxford University Press, New York.

Hildur Gestsdóttir & G. I. Eyjólfsson, 2005 . Mergæxli í fornri beinagrind frá Hofstöðum í Mývatnssveit. Læknablaðið, 91, 505-509.

Hildur Gestsdóttir. 2009. Sögur af beinagrindum. Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags, 2008-9, 123-142.

Hildur Gestsdóttir 2025. Hofstaðir in Mývatnssveit. An early religious landscape. In Arneborg, J. & Orri Vésteinssson (eds) Small Churches and Religious Landscapes in the North Atlantic c. 900 – 1300, Turnhout: Brepols, 239-47.

Hiles, W., Lawson, I.T., Roucoux, K.H. & Streeter, R.T. 2021. Late survival of woodland contrasts with rapid limnological changes following settlement at Kalmanstjörn, Mývatnssveit, northeast Iceland. Boreas, 50: 1209-1227.

Horsley, T. J., & Dockrill, S. J. 2002. A preliminary assessment of the use of routine geophysical techniques for the location, characterisation and interpretation of buried archaeology in Iceland. Archaeologia Islandica, 2, 10-33.

Hughes, R. E., & Lucas, G. 2009. Geochemical identification of the source for obsidian artefacts from the Viking settlement at Hofstaðir in Mývatnssveit, Northeastern Iceland. Archaeologia Islandica, 7, 41-54.

Ježek, M. & Hansen S.C.J. 2019. Symbols missing a cause: the testimony of touchstones from Viking Age Iceland. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 11(7), 3423-3434.

Jones, E. P., Karl Skírnisson, McGovern, T. H., Gilbert, M. T. P., Willerslev, E., & Searle, J. B. 2012. Fellow travellers: a concordance of colonization patterns between mice and men in the North Atlantic region. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 12(1), 35. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-12-35

Kendall, A. 2014. Material culture and North Atlantic trade in Iceland and Greenland. In R. Harrison & R. A. Maher (Eds.), Human ecodynamics in the North Atlantic pp. 101-116. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books.

Lanigan, L. T., & Bartlett, D. W. 2013. Tooth wear with an erosive component in a Mediaeval Iceland population. Archives of Oral Biology, 58(10), 1450-1456.

Lawson, I. T., Gathorne-Hardy, F. J., Church, M. J., Árni Einarsson, Edwards, K. J., Perdikaris, S., . . . Guðrún Sveinbjarnardóttir 2006. Human impact on freshwater environments in Norse and early medieval Iceland. In J. Arneborg & B. Grønnow (Eds.), Dynamics of northern societies: proceedings of the SILA/NABO Conference on Arctic and North Atlantic Archaeology, Copenhagen, May 10th-14th, 2004. pp. 375-382. Copenhagen: Aarhus University Press.

Lawson, I. T., Gathorne-Hardy, F. J., Church, M. J., Newton, A. J., Edwards, K. J., Dugmore, A. J., & Árni Einarsson 2007. Environmental impacts of the Norse settlement: palaeoenvironmental data from Myvatnssveit, northern Iceland. Boreas, 36(1), 1-19. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3885.2007.tb01176.

Laylock, A. 2015. What imported Viking Age and mediveal artifacts can tell us about trade and exchange in Mývatn, Iceland. Scandinavian-Canadian Studies, 22, 52-65.

Lilja Laufey Davíðsdóttir, Lísabet Guðmundsdóttir, Sólveig Guðmundsdóttir Beck, Howell Roberts, & Orri Vésteinsson 2017. New discoveries: Í Brekkum. Archaeologia Islandica, 12, 85-92.

Lucas, G. 1998. Prehistory at Hofstaðir: An introduction to the 1996-1997 excavations. Archaeologia Islandica, 1, 119-122.

Lucas, G., & McGovern, T. 2007. Bloody Slaughter: Ritual Decapitation and Display At the Viking Settlement of Hofstaðir, Iceland. European Journal of Archaeology, 10(1), 7-30. doi:10.1177/1461957108091480

Lucas, G., & Roberts, H. M. 2011. Fornleifar í fersku ljósi. Nýjar rannsóknir á fjórum landnámsbýlum. In O. Vésteinsson, G. Lucas, K. Þórsdóttir, & R. G. Gylfadóttir (Eds.), Upp á yfirborðið. Nýjar rannsóknir í íslenskri fornleifafræði pp. 25-48. Reykjavík: Fornleifastofnun Íslands.

Magdalena M. E. Schmid, Anthony J. Newton, Andrew J. Dugmore, 2020. From Sites to Regional Synthesis: Collective Chronologies of Late Viking and Early Christian Activities in Iceland. Í Pedersen, A. & Sindbæk, S. (ritstj). Viking Encounters: Proceedings of the 18th Viking Congress. Aarhus, Aarhus University Press.

Magnús Á. Sigurgeirsson, Hauptfleisch, U., Newton, A., & Árni Einarsson 2013. Dating of the Viking Age Landnám Tephra Sequence in Lake Mývatn Sediment, North Iceland. Journal of the North Atlantic(21), 1-11. doi:10.3721/037.004.m702

Magnús Á. Sigurgeirsson. 1998. Gjóskulagarannsóknir á Hofstöðum 1992-1997. Archaeologia Islandica, 1, 110-118.

Mainland, I. & Batey, C. 2019. The nature of the feast: commensality and the politics of consumption in Viking Age and Early Medieval Northern Europe. World archaeology. DOI: 10.1080/00438243.2019.1578260.

Margaryan, A., Lawson, D., Sikora, M., Racimo, F., Rasmussen, S., Moltke, I., Cassidy, L., Jørsboe, E., Ingason, A., Willerslev, E. (preprint). Population genomics of the Viking world. DOI: 10.1101/703405.

McCooey, B. 2021. The Forgotten Pigs and Goats of Iceland in a North Atlantic Context. In: Bartosiewicz, L., Choyke, A.M. (eds) Medieval Animals on the Move. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

McGovern, T. H., Mainland, I., & Amorosi, T. 1998. Hofstaðir 1996-7: A preliminary zooarchaeological report. Archaeologia Islandica, 1, 123-128.

McGovern, T. H., Perdikaris, S. P., Á. Einarsson, & Sidell, J. 2006. Coastal connections, local fishing, and sustainable egg harvesting: Patterns of Viking Age inland wild resource use in Myvatn district, Northern Iceland. Environmental Archaeology, 11, 187-205.

McGovern, T. H., Orri Vésteinsson, Adolf Friðriksson, Church, M., Lawson, I., Simpson, I. A., Dunbar, E. 2007. Landscapes of settlement in northern Iceland: historical ecology of human impact and climate fluctuation on the millennial scale. American Anthropologist, 109(1), 27-51. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.2007.109.1.27

McGovern, T., Harrison, R., & Smiarowski, K. 2014. Sorting sheep and goats in medieval Iceland and Greenland: local subsistence, climate change, or world system impacts. In R. Harrison & R. A. Maher (Eds.), Human ecodynamics in the North Atlantic pp. 153-176. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books.

McGovern, T.H., Hambrecht, G. & Hicks, M. 2019. Historical and longitudinal research strategies around Lake Mývatn, Iceland. In Ray, C. & Fernández-Götz, M. Historical ecologies, heterarchies and transtemporal landscapes.

Mehler, N. 2003. Die bronene Ringkopfnadel aus Hofstaðir, Island. Germania, 81(1), 289-295.

Mellows, A., Barnett, R., Dalén, L., Sandoval-Castellanos, E., Linderholm, A., McGovern, T. H., Larson, G. 2012. The impact of past climate change on genetic variation and population connectivity in the Icelandic arctic fox. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 279(1747), 4568-4573. doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.1796

Milek, K. 2012. The Roles of Pit Houses and Gendered Spaces on Viking-Age Farmsteads in Iceland. Medieval Archaeology 56(1), 85-130.

Orri Vésteinsson & Ian A. Simpson 2004, ‘Fuel utilisation in pre-industrial Iceland. A micro-morphological and historical analysis.’ ed. Garðar Guðmundsson: Current Issues in Nordic Archaeology. Proceedings of the 21st Conference of Nordic Archaeologists, September 6th-9th 2001, Akureyri, Reykjavík, 181-87.

Orri Vésteinsson2007, ‘“Hann reisti hof mikið hundrað fóta langt …” Um uppruna hof-örnefna og stjórnmál á Íslandi í lok 10. aldar.’ Saga. Tímarit Sögufélags 45, 53-91.

Orri Vésteinsson 2010, ‘Ethnicity and class in settlement period Iceland.’ The Viking Age: Ireland and the West. Papers from the Proceedings of the Fifteenth Viking Congress, Cork, 18-27 August 2005, eds. John Sheehan & Donnachadh Ó Corráin, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 494-510. https://shorturl.at/XBHvn

Orri Vésteinsson2014, ‘Shopping for Identities: Norse and Christian in the Viking Age North Atlantic.’ Conversion and Identi https://shorturl.at/jlynwty in the Viking Age, ed. I. Garipzanov and R. Bonté, Turnhout: Brepols, 75-91.

Orri Vésteinsson & McGovern, T. H. 2012. The Peopling of Iceland. Norwegian Archaeological Review, 45(2), 206-218. doi:10.1080/00293652.2012.721792

Orri Vésteinsson & Simpson, I. A. 2001. Fuel utilisation in pre-industrial Iceland. A micro-morphological and historical analysis. In G. Guðmundsson (Ed.), Current issues in Nordic archaeology pp. 181-187 . Reykjavík: Society of Icelandic Archaeologists.

Orri Vésteinsson, McGovern, T. H. & Keller, C. 2002. Enduring impacts: Social and environmental aspects of Viking age settlement in Iceland and Greenland. Archaeologia Islandica, 2, 98-136.

Orri Vésteinsson, Michelle Hegmon, Jette Arneborg, Glen Rice, Will G. Russell. 2019. Dimensions of inequality. Comparing the North Atlantic and the US Southwest. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 54, 172-191.

Orri Vésteinsson. 2000. The archaeology of Landnám: Early settlement in Iceland. In W. W. Fitzhugh & E. I. Ward (Eds.), Vikings. The North Atlantic saga. pp. 164-174 . Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Outram, A. K. 2003. Comparing Levels of Subsistence Stress amongst Norse Settlers in Iceland and Greenland using Levels of Bone Fat Exploitation as an Indicator. Environmental Archaeology, 8(2), 119-128. doi:10. /env.2003.8.2.119

Perdikaris, S., & McGovern, T. 2007. Walrus, Cod Fish, and Chieftains : Intensification in the Norse North Atlantic. In T. L. Thurston & C. T. Fisher (Eds.), Seeking A Richer Harvest: The Archaeology of Subsistence Intensification, Innovation, and Change pp. 193-216. New York: Springer Science+Business Media.

Perdikaris, S., & McGovern, T. H. 2009. Viking Age economics and the origins of commercial cod fisheries in the North Atlantic. In L. Sicking & D. Abreu-Ferreira (Eds.), Fisheries of the North Atlantic, the North Sea and the Baltic pp. 61-90. Leiden: Brill.

Plomp, K.A., Hildur Gestsdóttir, Dobney, K. & Collard. M. (2023). Mixed ancestry of Europeans who settled Iceland and Greenland: 3D geometric-morphometric analyses of cranial base shape Antiquity 97: 1249-1261.

Plomp, K.A., Hildur Gestsdóttir, Dobney, K., Price, N. & Collard. 2021. The composition of the founding population of Iceland: a new perspective from 3D analysis of basicranial shape. PLoS ONE 16(2): e0246059.

Ragnhildur Sigurðardóttir et al. (2019). Trolls, Water, Time, and Community: Resource Management in the Mývatn District of Northeast Iceland. In: Lozny, L., McGovern, T. (eds) Global Perspectives on Long Term Community Resource Management. Studies in Human Ecology and Adaptation, vol 11. Springer, Cham.

Sayle, K. L., Cook, G. T., Ascough, P. L., Hildur Gestsdóttir, Derek, H. W., & McGovern, T. H. 2014. Utilisation of δ 13C, δ15N and δ34S analysis to understand 14C-dating anomalies within a late Viking Age community in north-east Iceland. Radiocarbon, 56(2), 811-821.

Sayle, K. L., Cook, G. T., Ascough, P. L., Hastie, H. R., Árni Einarsson, McGovern, T. H., Adolf Friðriksson 2013. Application of 34S analysis for elucidating terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems: Evidence of animal movement/husbandry practices in an early Viking community around Lake Mývatn, Iceland. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 120, 531-544. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2013.07.008

Sayle, K. L., Hamilton, W. D., Cook, G. T., Ascough, P. L., Hildur Gestsdóttir & McGovern, T. H. 2016. Deciphering diet and monitoring movement: Multiple stable isotope analysis of the viking age settlement at Hofstaðir, Lake Mývatn, Iceland. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, n/a-n/a. doi:10.1002/ajpa.22939

Sayle, K. L., Hamilton, W. D., Hildur Gestsdóttir & Cook, G. T. 2016. Modelling Lake Mývatn’s freshwater reservoir effect: Utilisation of the statistical program FRUITS to assist in the re-interpretation of radiocarbon dates from a cemetery at Hofstaðir, north-east Iceland. Quaternary Geochronology, 36, 1-11.

Schmid, M.M.E., Wood, R., Newton, A.J., Orri Vésteinsson & Dugmore, A.J. 2019. Enhancing radiocarbon chronologies of colonization: chronometric hygiene revisited. Radiocarbon, 51(2), 629-647.

Simpson, I. A., Dugmore, A. J., Thomson, A. M., & Vésteinsson, O. 2001. Crossing the thresholds: Human ecology and historical patterns of landscape degradation. CATENA, 42, 176-192.

Simpson, I. A., Garðar Guðmundsson, Thompson, A. M., & Cluett, J. 2004. Assessing the role of winter grazing in historic land degradation, Mývatnssveit, Northeast Iceland. Geoarchaeology, 19, 471-502.

Simpson, I. A., Milek, K., & Garðar Guðmundsson 1998. Archaeological sediments and site formation at Hofstaðir, Mývatn, NE-Iceland. Archaeologia Islandica, 1, 129-142.

Simpson, I. A., Milek, K., & Garðar Guðmundsson 1999. A reinterpretation of the great pit at Hofstaðir, Iceland using sediment thin section micromorphology. Geoarchaeology, 14(6), 511-530.

Simpson, I. A., Orri Vésteinsson, Adderley, W. P., & McGovern, T. H. 2003. Fuel resource utilisation in landscapes of settlement. Journal of Archaeological Science, 30(11), 1401-1420. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0305-4403(03)00035-9

Smiarowski, K., Harrison, R., Brewington, S., Hicks, M., Feeley, F. J., Dupont-Hébert, C., McGovern, T. H. 2017. Zooarchaeology of the Scandinavian settlements in Iceland and Greenland diverging pathways. In U. Albarella, M. Rizzetto, H. Russ, K. Vickers, & S. Viner-Daniels (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of zooarchaeology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Thomson, A. M., & Simpson, I. A. 2007. Modeling historic rangeland management and grazing pressures in landscapes of settlement. Human Ecology, 35, 151.

Thomson, A.M. and Simpson, I.A. 2006. A grazing model for simulating the impact of historical land management decisions in sensitive landscapes: Model design and validation. Environmental Modeling and Software 21, 1096-1113.

Tisdall, E., Barclay, R., Nichol, A., McCulloch, R., Simpson, I., Smith, H., & Orri Vésteinsson 2018. Palaeoenvironmental evidence for woodland conservation in Northern Iceland from settlement to the twentieth century. Environmental Archaeology, 23(3), 205-216. doi:10.1080/14614103.2018.1437105

Greinar í vinnslu

McGovern, T. H., Hildur Gestsdóttir, Oddgeir Isaksen, Brewington, S., Harrison, R., Hicks, M., & Smiarowski, K. (í vinnslu). Medieval climate impact and human response: an archaeofauna circa 1300 AD from Hofstaðir in Mývatnssveit, N. Iceland. Journal of the North Atlantic.

Ritgerðir

BA/BS

Björgvin Már Sigurðsson. 2019. Rannsókn á beinprjónum á Íslandi frá víkingaöld (B.A), Háskóli Íslands, Reykjavík.

Brynja Árnadóttir. 2023. Mikilvægi innfluttra muna: Erlend viðskiptatengsl á Skútustöðum frá 900-1500. (B.A.), Háskóli Íslands, Reykjavík.

Ingibjörg Vigdís Ottósdóttir 2015. Upp að hvaða marki fylgja járnnaglar á Íslandi tímatalsfræðilegri formgerðarflokkun? Rannsókn á járnnöglum. (B.A.), Háskóli Íslands, Reykjavík.

Jónas Haukdal Jónasson 2014. Eldstæði. Flokkun eldstæða í Sveigakoti. (B.A), Háskóli Íslands, Reykjavík.

MA/MS

Coleman, W. 2019. Hrísheimar: Fish Consumption Patterns. (M.A.), CUNY Hunter College.

Hólmfríður Sveinsdóttir 2019. Carving the cross and beast: The Icelandic assemblage of decorative bone pins. (M.A.), University of Glasgow.

Hulda Björk Guðmundsdóttir 2018. Hrísheimar í Mývatnssveit. Gripasafn frá víkingaöld borið saman við nágrannabæina Hofstaði og Sveigakot. (M.A.), Háskóli Íslands, Reykjavík.

Jeffries, E. 2011. The archaeology of children in northern Iceland: Analysis of the infant assemblages from Hofstaðir and Keldudalur. (M.Sc), University of Sheffield.

Jóhanna Valgerður Guðmundsdóttir. 2023 Vefst staðurinn fyrir okkur? Rannsókn á staðsetningu vegstaðarins á Íslandi á víkingaöld og miðöldum út frá kljásteinafundum. (M.A.), Háskóli Íslands, Reykjavík.

Lanigan, L. T. 2011. Acid erosion in the dental enamel of an early Medieval Icelandic population. (M.Sc), University College London.

Nikola Trbojevic 2009. Comparative Analysis of Viking Age Pit Houses. (M.A.), Háskóli Íslands, Reykjavík.

Sigrid M. Juel. 2009. Whetstones from Viking Age Iceland. As part of the Trans-Atlantic trade in basic commodities. (M.A.), Háskóli Íslands, Reykjavík.

Sua, M. 2020. Tracing the Human-Avian Relationship in Iceland. (M.A.), CUNY Hunter College.

PhD

Barclay, R. 1999. Formation, cultural use and management of Icelandic wet meadows – a paleoenvironmental interpretation. (PhD.), University of Stirling.

Brown, J. 2010. Human responses, resilience and vulnerability: An interdisciplinary approach to understanding past farm success and failure in Mývatnssveit, northern Iceland. (Ph.D.), University of Stirling.

Collins, C. 2018. Palaeopathology of Maxillary Sinusitis, Otitis Media and Mastoiditis in Medieval Iceland: Assessing the prevalence and aetiology of chronic upper respiratory disease and the presence of tuberculosis using microscopy, endoscopy and CT. (Ph.D), University of Reading.

Ewens, V. 2010. An odontological study of ovicaprine herding strategies in the North Atlantic islands. The potential of dental enamel defects for identifying secondary product utilisation in an archaeological context. (Ph.D), University of Bradford, Bradford.

Hicks, Megan 2019. Rural Household Ecology of Iceland in the Emergent Atlantic World. (Ph.D.). City University of New York.

Hildur Gestsdóttir. 2014. Osteoarthritis in Iceland. An archaeological study. (Ph.D.), University of Iceland, Reykjavík.

Hogg, Lara. 2015. Humans and animals in the North Atlantic. (Ph.D.), Cardiff University.

Horsley, T. J. 2004. The potential of geophysical prospection techniques for archaeological field evaluation in Iceland. (PhD), University of Bradford.

Koster, Willem Wilmer. 2023. Seeing the wood for the trees. Rethinking 700 years of vegetation change in Iceland using meta-analysis of palaeoecological datasets and landscape scale model reconstructions. (Ph.D.). University of St. Andrews.

Margaryan, A. 2017. Population genomics of vikings. (Ph.D.), University of Copenhagen.

Milek, K. 2007. Houses and households in early Icelandic society : geoarchaeology and the interpretation of social space. (Ph.D.), University of Cambridge.

Thomson, Amanda. 2003. A modelling approach to farm management and vegetation degradation in pre-modern Iceland. (Ph.D), University of Stirling.

Trbojevic, Nikola. 2016. The Impact of Settlement on Woodland Resources in Viking Age Iceland. (Ph.D.). University of Iceland, Reykjavík.

Wooding, J. E. 2010. The identification of bovine tuberculosis in zooarchaeological assemblages. Working towards differential diagnostic criteria. (Ph.D.), University of Bradford.

Skýrslur

Adolf Friðriksson & McGovern, T. H. 2011. Hrísheimahundurinn. Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS478-03262.

Adolf Friðriksson, & Orri Vésteinsson 1996. Hofstaðir í Mývatnssveit. Uppgraftarskýrsla 1996 Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS026-91014.

Adolf Friðriksson, & Orri Vésteinsson. 1995. Fornleifarannsóknir á Hofstöðum í Mývatnssveit Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS011-91024.

Adolf Friðriksson, & Orri Vésteinsson. 1997. Hofstaðir í Mývatnssveit: framvinduskýrsla Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS042-91015.

Adolf Friðriksson, & Orri Vésteinsson. 1998. Hofstaðir 1998. Framvinduskýrslur Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS062-91016.

Adolf Friðriksson, Orri Vésteinsson, Lucas, G., McGovern, T., Simpson, I., Urbanczyck, P., Magnús Á. Sigurgeirsson 2005. Landnám og menningarlandslag. Fornleifarannsóknir í S-Þingeyjarsýslu 2002-2004 Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS293-02262.

Ágústa Edwald, & McGovern, T. 2010. Skútustaðir midden investigations. Mývatn Northern Iceland 2009.

Ágústa Edwald. 2009. Öskuhaugarannsóknir á Skútustöðum í Mývatnssveit. Framvinduskýrsla I Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS419-08271.

Ágústa Edwald. 2010. Öskuhaugarannsóknir á Skútustöðum í Mývatnssveit 2009. Framvinduskýrsla II Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS447-08272.

Birna Lárusdóttir, Elín Ósk Hreiðarsdóttir, Hildur Gestsdóttir, Orri Vésteinsson, & Sædís Gunnarsdóttir. 2000. Fornleifaskráning í Skútustaðahreppi IV: Fornleifar við norðan- og austanvert Mývatn, milli Grímsstaða og Kálfastrandar auk afréttarlanda Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS118-96014.

Elín Ósk Hreiðarsdóttir & Orri Vésteinsson. 1999. Fornleifaskráning í Skútustaðahreppi III: Fornleifar við sunnanvert Mývatn, milli Haganess og Garðs Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS086-96013.

Elín Ósk Hreiðarsdóttir &Orri Vésteinsson 1998. Fornleifaskráning í Skútustaðahreppi II: Fornleifar í Baldursheimi, á Litlu-Strönd, Arnarvatni, Neslöndum, Vindbleg og Geirastöðum Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS049-96012.

Guðrún Alda Gísladóttir & Orri Vésteinsson. 2008. Archaeological investigations at Sveigakot 2006 Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS376-00217.

Hicks, M et al. 2014. 2013 Excavations at Skútustaðir, N. Iceland – a preliminary report. Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS544-8275), Reykjavík.

Hicks, M. 2010. Skútustaðir: an Interim Zooarchaeological Report following the 2009 Field Season. CUNY NORSEC Laboratory Report No. 48.

Hicks, M. 2013. Midden excavations at Skútustaðir N. Iceland 2011 Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS510-08274.

Hicks, M., & Harrison, R. 2008. A Preliminary Report of the 2008 Midden Excavation at Skutustadir, N Iceland.

Hildur Gestsdóttir & Oddgeir Isaksen. 2011. Fornleifarannsókn á kirkjugarði á Hofstöðum í Mývatnssveit sumarið 2010 (Framvinduskýrsla). Reykjavík: Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS455-910113.

Hildur Gestsdóttir & Oddgeir Isaksen. 2014. Hofstaðir 2013. Interim report. Reykjavík: Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS533-910116.

Hildur Gestsdóttir, Lilja Laufey Davíðsdóttir og Orri Vésteinsson. 2020. Hofstaðir í Mývatnssveit. Fornleifarannsókn 2019. Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands FS793-910122.

Hildur Gestsdóttir. 2004. Hofstaðir 2003. Framvinduskýrsla/Interim report. Reykjavík: Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS230-910111.

Hildur Gestsdóttir. 2006. Hofstaðir 2004. Interim Report. Reykjavík: Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS311-910112.

Hildur Gestsdóttir. 2015. Hofstaðir 2014. Interim report. Reykjavík: Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS557-910117.

Hildur Gestsdóttir. 2016. Hofstaðir 2015. Interim report. Reykjavík: Fornleifastofnun Íslands: FS604-910118.

Hildur Gestsdóttir. 2021. Hofstaðir í Mývatnssveit. Fornleifarannsókn 2020. Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS839-910123.

King, G., & Forbes, V. 2010. Archaeoentomological investigations at Skútustaðir, Mývatnssveit, N-Iceland.

Lilja Laufey Davíðsdóttir og Orri Vésteinsson. 2017. Í Brekkum. Fornbýli í Mývatnssveit. Fornleifarannsókn 2017. Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS699-910120.

Lilja Laufey Davíðsdóttir og Orri Vésteinsson. 2018. Hofstaðir í Mývatnssveit. Fornleifarannsókn 2018. Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS726-910121.

Lucas, G. 1999. Hofstaðir 1999. Framvinduskýrslur/Interim report Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS102-91017.

Lucas, G. 2001. Hofstaðir 2000. Framvinduskýrslur/Interim report Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS130-91018.

Lucas, G. 2002. Hofstaðir 2001. Framvinduskýrslur/Interim report Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS167-91019.

Lucas, G. 2003. Hofstaðir 2002. Framvinduskýrslur/Interim report Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS193-910110.

McGovern, T. H., Smiarowski, K., & Harrison, R. 2011. Hard times at Hofstaðir? An archaeofauna circa 1300 AD from Hofstaðir in Mývatnssveit, N Iceland.

Oddgeir Isaksen, & Hildur Gestsdóttir. 2012. Fornleifarannsókn á kirkjugarði á Hofstöðum í Mývatnssveit sumarið 2011 (Framvinduskýrsla). Reykjavík: Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS485-910114.

Oddgeir Isaksen, & Hildur Gestsdóttir. 2012. Fornleifarannsókn á kirkjugarði á Hofstöðum í Mývatnssveit sumarið 2012 (Framvinduskýrsla). Reykjavík: Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS504-910115.

Orri Vésteinsson. 1996. Fornleifaskráning í Skútustaðahreppi I: Fornleifar á Hofstöðum, Helluvaði, Gautlöndum og í Hörgsdal. Reykjavík: Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS022-96011.

Orri Vésteinsson. 2001. Archaeological investigations at Sveigakot. 1998-2000 Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS134-00211.

Orri Vésteinsson. 2002. Archaeological investigations at Sveigakot 2001 Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS173-00212.

Orri Vésteinsson. 2003. Archaeological investigations at Sveigakot 2002 Reykjavík, Fornleifastofnun Íslands, FS206-00213.