In this study, δ13C and δ15N of bone samples from 83 skeletons (79 humans, 2 horses, and 2 dogs) excavated from pagan and early Christian graves from 21 localities in Iceland are used to reconstruct diet of the early settlers in Iceland and possible differences in diet depending on the distance between the excavation site and the seashore. We have radiocarbon dated 47 of these skeletons and used the carbon isotopic composition (δ13C) to estimate and correct for the marine reservoir effect (the 14C difference between terrestrial and mixed marine organisms). The reservoir-corrected ages lie in the range of AD 780–1270 (68.2% probability). Reservoir age corrections were checked by comparing 14C dates of a horse (terrestrial diet), a dog (highly marine diet), and a human (mixed diet) from the same burial. The range in measured marine protein percentage in individual diet is from about 10% up to 55%, mostly depending on the geographical position (distance from the sea) of the excavation site. We had access to the skeleton (AAR-5908) of the Skálholt bishop Páll Jónsson whose remains are enshrined at the Episcopal residence in Skálholt, southern Iceland. According to written sources, the bishop died in AD 1211. Using our dietary reconstruction, his bones were about 17% marine, which is within the range of human skeletons from the same area, and the reservoir-corrected calibrated 14C age of the skeleton is in accord with the historical date.

Gautavík is a well-known archaeological site on the east coast of Iceland. It was partially excavated in 1979 and interpreted as a seasonal occupied trading site, abandoned shortly after c. 1500. However, recent archaeological research on the  excavated ceramics, which hitherto had not been studied in detail, raised doubts about the interpretation regarding the dating and function of the site. New research was then initiated that included an investigation of written documents in the archives of Bremen, Hamburg, and Copenhagen, pertaining to the trade with Iceland during the sixteenth century. On the basis of the new results presented here we now interpret Gautavík to have been a trading harbour that also included a farm, at least periodically, occupied from the late twelfth century, at the latest, until shortly before 1600. Gautavík was a place of supra-regional importance, being the main port of entry in Berufjörður during the medieval period. In the sixteenth century, however, Gautavík lost its importance. This was a period of intensive trade of German merchants with Iceland, and after Bremen and Hamburg merchants established Djúpivogur and Fýluvogur at the entrance of the fjord c. 1570, both gradually superseded Gautavík, such that shortly before 1600 trade was no longer conducted there.

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Skógar Museets grundlaegger og livslange legendariske kurator LISE GJEDSSØ BERTELSEN, GUÐMUNDUR ÓLAFSSON OG MJÖLL SNAESDÓTTIR Indledning S kógar Museet (Skógasafn), 155 km sydøst for Reykjavik, 30 km nordvest for Vík og beliggende umiddelbart ved ringvej 1, er først og fremmest et kultur historisk lokalmuseum og arkiv for de tidligere Rangárvallasýsla og Vestur-Skaftafellssýsla, som i dag er en del af regionen Sydlandet (Suðurland) i det sydvestlige Island ( jf. https://www.skogasafn.is/). Museet i det storslåede landskab består i dag af tre afdelinger, A, B og C, jf. neden stående oversigtstegning (fig. 1): A) Den aeldste afdeling, et kulturhistorisk lokalmuseum og arkiv i museums bygningen, som åbnede i 1955 og blev udbygget i 1990-1995 og i 2017. Her ses mange genstande fra vikingetid og op til vore dage fra lokal området vedrørende landbrug, fiskeri, dag ligliv på gårdene og natur historie, alt som giver indblik i "det gamle Island". Landbrugssektionens genstande afspejler gårdenes subsis tens økonomi, hvilket vil sige, at produktion hovedsagelig gik til familiernes eget private forbrug, så man kunne overleve. Her er dag ligdags hushold nings artikler, ting fra kvaeghold, redskaber

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