Skáholt 2002 - Nabo

much earlier. Curiously though, the off-centre position of the heating duct would be quite
central if the room was its original width before this wall was altered. Stratigraphically
however, the heating duct cannot be contemporary with this earlier wall, and this
symmetry may be fortuitous, or the product of aligning the duct to another feature which
was contemporary with the original wall.
Stone fireplaces set against a wall are rare. They have been seen as part of special rooms,
the ónstofa, and in a survey from 1974, Hörður Águstsson cites one such from Skálholt
mentioned in the 17 th century (Águstsson 1974: 38, table 4), although the one excavated
need not be the same one referred to in the documentary sources. In most of Águstsson’s
examples, the fireplace is standing proud (i.e. extending out) of the wall, but at Skálholt,
it is recessed into the wall. Águstsson cites just one recessed example, at Gröf which
dates no later than the 14 th century. Gröf was excavated by Gísli Gestsson and in a paper
from 1976 he suggests it was a bath-house (baðstofa), citing two other examples he
excavated, at Kúabót (late 14 th century) and Reyðarfell (mid 16 th century; Gestsson
1976). The fireplace at Gröf is set into one corner of the room, but at Kúabót and
Reyðarfell, they lie central and opposite the entrance, as at Skálholt. At Skálholt there are
documentary references to a skólabaðstofa. Since both Gestsson’s and Águstsson´s
papers, other excavated examples of stone fireplaces have come to light such as at Viðey
and Stóraborg – at Stóraborg, there were several stone fireplaces found, recessed into the
wall and placed centrally and opposite the doorway (M. Snæsdóttir, pers.comm.). These
are dated to the late medieval/early post-medieval period, i.e. 15 th -17 th century.
There remain many un-answered questions about rooms 80 and 81, but they certainly
appear to be stratigraphically complex when compared to the rooms on the western side
of the area. It seems certain that more modifications and re-buildings have occurred in
this area over a similar span of time than elsewhere currently opened. The ground plan of
earlier school rooms seems to have been preserved and re-built over time, whereas the
rooms on the western side of the area started from scratch, save the corridor. It is also
hard to be certain whether an upper, final phase of the school rooms has been truncated,
surviving only as wall remnants or whether these are simply repairs, perhaps associated
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