Skáholt 2002 - Nabo

ensuring local wealth; this may be further tested, by consideration of church
cartularies. The alternative hypothesis is that Skálholt did not intensively manage
land, preferring to rely on tithing (i.e. external income) to maintain wealth.
If the first hypothesis is validated and intensity of land management at Skálholt is
consistently high throughout the early ‘Christian’ period, then a second
hypothesis is that crop productivity was high throughout this period, even during
periods of climatic deterioration. This will, in part, reflect the significance of
year-on-year improvement to land quality through manuring strategies.
Soils survey will be undertaken by systematic ha nd augering and by exposure of selected
profiles for sampling. Analyses of soils will be undertake using thin section
micromorphology (Davidson and Simpson, 2001) and element analyses used in
CENTURY soil organic carbon and productivity modelling (total carbon, total nitrogen
and total phosphorus – Simpson et al., 2002). The temporal and spatial framework of the
study will allow statistical models and comparisons of soil properties and productivities
to be made.
Preliminary soil assessment
A preliminary soil assessment has begun to indicate the validity of a soils-based approach
to understanding early land management practices associated with the Skálholt
ecclesiastical settlement. One exposure in a ditch section has demonstrated accumulating
silt loam and sandy silt loam soils with colours ranging from 2.5YR 3/6 (dark red) to 10
YR 3/1 (dark grey brown) (Figure 4). Prior to the landnám tephra of AD 871±2 there is
no disturbance or amendment of soils. Post landnám there is evidence of cultivation
ridges, with an earlier phase overlain by a later phase, that have a distance of
approximately 120cm between the high points of the ridges. Based on colour
characteristics, these cultivation ridges were created by overturning turves and exposing
the soil. The occurrence of occasional fine charcoals and rare small bone fragments
indicate that these soils were amended with a view to maintaining and enhancing soil
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