Beowulf - Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia

place. Living quarters are limited in early Iron Age house and in those without a byre,
i.e., small dwelling houses, the kitchen area expands from the short end to the area
on each side of the hearth. In houses where byre and dwelling are combined the
design is not as compact and in the example (Fig. 8) the free space south of the
hearth and the shelf that once hung here on the wall (Fig. 8; No 678) probably show
us a protected and therefore also prominent space in the house. Since a prominent
rather than withdrawn position fits what is later known as an undvegi or a hásæti,
we may infer that some kind of seat, sæti, occupied the space permanently or occasionally.
Be this as it may, the main point is that the house of the Early Iron Age
contained a sheltered prominent space next to the fire.
Keeping in mind the mixture of function, position and quality implied by the terms
it is reasonable to sketch the development as in Figs 9a–d and to point out that the
additional possibility, the short end position introduced in later halls, is a change from
the prominent but balanced and symmetrical position of hásæti and undvegi to an
asymmetric and clearly dominant position. This accords well with the word high-
Figures 7a and b. Examples
of high settles from the Bayeux
tapistery, (a) in a corner
and (b) in a short end position.
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