VSF 2010 Report - Nabo

Upon the removal of the gravel platform, two small, 1 cm-thick patches of black,
charcoal-rich, compacted floor layers were found (units 10031 and 10032), which clearly
pre-dated the construction of the gravel platform and must therefore belong to an earlier
phase of the building. This
makes it possible (even
likely) that the lowermost
few millimeters of floor
10024 actually belonged to
this earlier occupation
phase, though the central
black floor deposits had
been completely excavated
away when units 10031 and
10032 were found. Below
unit 10032 was a more
extensive, very dark brown,
organic-rich and gravelly
occupation layer, unit
10033, which contained
another probable loom
weight, find 11, which had
been nicely shaped from a
green Rhyolitic tuff
(Gísladóttir, this report; see
Figure 7).
At the base of the pit house, cut into the floor, were a number of post-holes (units
Figure 7. Find 11, a stone weight carved from a green Rhyolitic tuff , in
situ in the earliest occupation layer in Structure 10, unit 10033 (facing
west).
10026, 10037, 10039, and 10045) from which the posts had been removed. The
depressions from these replaced posts had subsequently been sealed by the occupation
layers and platforms already described (10033, 10024) or by small levelling layers
subsequently used as occupation surfaces (units 10035 and 10043), one of which contained
an iron punch that may have been used for tasks such as working leather (F-12). In the later
phase of the building all the posts were set on post pads; Figure 6 illustrates the
relationship between some of these earlier-phase post holes and the later post pads. The
original cut for the building which was only 30 cm deep, had rounded corners and was 2 m
wide by 3.45 m long.
Discussion
The shape and size, the sunken character of Structure 10, its timber construction (without
turf walls) and the oven in one corner, place it within the category of structures known as
pit houses, which are common on Viking Age farmsteads in Iceland. This one is on the
smaller and shallower end of the spectrum, but is nevertheless within the range found on
other sites (Milek forthcoming). There were only four artefacts found in Structure 10 –
three stone weights that were probably loom weights, and an iron punch that was probably
used for tooling leather – suggesting that this small building, like other pit houses, was
used as a small workshop, and included textile production. The floor deposits, which were
composed predominantly of compacted and finely comminuted charcoal, also contained
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