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driftwood. All of the driftwood collection sites listed are on the northern coast of the<br />
Hornstrandir peninsula, which contains some of the most productive driftwood beaches in<br />
Iceland. In total, 11 sites are listed where the inhabitants of Vatnsfjörður had at rights to at<br />
least a portion of the driftwood, ranging from all the driftwood at Teig under Hvesta, to<br />
one twelfth of the driftwood at Sigluvík (see Figure 4) (DI VIII). All of these locations<br />
would have been reached by lengthy boat trips, which would have been particularly<br />
treacherous during the winter months. It therefore seems very likely that while excursions<br />
to these locations would have been made in the summer to collect material for<br />
construction, artefact production and repairs to buildings and boats, too collect firewood<br />
from these locations would have been a rather risky and time-consuming expedition.<br />
Access to woodland for firewood collection was in fact much more local to the site, with<br />
collection sites focusing in around the fjords of Ísafjörður, Mjóifjörður and Reykjarfjörður<br />
(see Figure 5). It is also specifically stated that the farm had permission to carry out<br />
charcoal production in the woodland at Jökulskelda in Mjóifjörður (see Figure 5) (DI VIII).<br />
This is also mentioned in an earlier máldagi from 1397, along with the rights to firewood<br />
collection at Skeiðarmúli (DI IV). Although driftwood rights are not mentioned in this<br />
máldagi, going further back to the rekaskrá from Vatnsfjörður from 1327, it can clearly be<br />
seen that the same rights and permissions highlighted in the 1509 máldagi were already in<br />
place almost 200 years earlier (DI II). This suggests that there is a continuity of rights<br />
stretching back to at least the early Medieval Period, and these were probably established<br />
soon after landnám.<br />
Although judging from the approximate dates given to levels in the sample column<br />
by Parkin et al’s 2009 dating of an adjacent sample column (Figure 1), it seems that at least<br />
half of the samples from the column probably pre-date any historical documents<br />
concerning wood collection rights, the continuity shown between records from 1327 and<br />
1509 suggest that there was little long-term change in these permissions. It is therefore safe<br />
to say that the birch charcoal found in this sample column probably originates from<br />
woodlands in the fjords neighbouring Vatnsfjörður.<br />
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