Skáholt 2002 - Nabo

Room [127] (Unknown Annexe; MS)
Unmarked on the 1784 plan, this room lies in the corner between the passage from the
church and the side passage in the farm [106]. It was partially excavated by Kristján
Eldjárn in 1952-54, his trench clipping the east side [160]; Guðmundur Ólafsson also dug
into this room in 1984 [009]. Based on Eldjárn´s plan and our own, this room was
probably aligned north-east/south-west, with access into it from the passageway to the
church; it extended 1.6m (north-south) into our excavation area and was 2.9m wide (eastwest),
its depth of survival c. 0.4-0.6m deep. Its primary associated floor was an iron
panned, dark organic layer [139] with animal dung and wood chips indicating this was
probably an animal byre/work shed, although the very basal part of the layer was cleaner,
suggesting it may have had a different primary function. Over this floor was turf
wall/roof collapse [128] representing the abandonment of the room. A possible later wall
[070] had been built over this collapse which may be contemporary with wall [056],
which runs alongside the northern edge of the haybarn (see discussion of the 20 th century
Farm below).
This annexe is clearly a later addition, both because it is not marked on the 1784 plan but
also on stratigraphic grounds. While its western wall is part of an earlier feature –
possibly the continuation of corridor, the southern and eastern walls are added and
contemporary with the floor, as the layer beneath continues under them. However, traces
of earlier walls lie behind these as seen from the surface; it is most evident on the
southern side where one of Guðmundur Ólafsson´s trenches [009] is cut in the middle of
the wall and exposes the back part of a stone facing for an earlier wall. There is also a lot
of turf debris over these walls at this point ([047], [050], [058]) and also an ash dump
from the 19 th century [044].
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