¹⁴C Dating of the Settlement of Iceland

Abstract

The dating of the settlement of Iceland has been debated for many years. According to written sources (sagas) from the early 12th century, the first Norwegian settlers arrived in Iceland in AD 874. However, some 14C dates from the earliest archaeological sites in Iceland, invariably from samples of birch and other indigenous wood species, have yielded surprisingly old ages, older by 100–150 yr than the historical date, suggesting that the settlement took place in the 7th or 8th century. In this paper, we report 16 new 14C dates of pairs of barley grain and wood samples from an excavation in Reykjavík in 2001. The new results show that the wood samples tend to be older than the grain samples by up to about 100 yr. We argue that the barley grains give the true date (AD 890), whereas the wood dates are too old. The grain dates are in close agreement with the settlement year quoted in the written sources. In particular, our new data eliminate the need of any of the ad hoc theories introduced up to now to explain the suspiciously high 14C ages of wood samples from the settlement of Iceland, namely, 1) the island effect, 2) the volcanic or geothermal effect, or 3) that settlement actually took place significantly before the time recorded in the sagas.

Tephra isochrons and chronologies of colonisation

“…Hermanns-Auðardóttir, 1989;Theodórsson 1998;. The relevance of these 'early' dates to Iceland's settlement history is problematic because either their stratigraphic positions are unsecure or their interpretation is demonstrably incorrect-for example an 'early' date from a secure context above LTL of A.D. 877 ± 1 indicates that the dates are misleading and could, for example, be a result of the use of old timber for fires (Sveinbjörnsdóttir et al, 2004;. Given the widespread occurrence of old dead timber at the time of first human settlement in wooded areas there will always be an element of uncertainty over 'early' charcoal dates in Iceland even if they are from native species and secure stratigraphic locations.…”

Best practice methodology for 14C calibration of marine and mixed terrestrial/marine samples

“…The farmstead lies on the River Laxá, 5 km west of Lake Mývatn, and has been documented as an area of major archaeological importance with respect to the settlement of Viking communities in Iceland (Friðriksson and Vésteinsson, 1997;Vésteinsson, 1998;Lucas and McGovern, 2007;McGovern et al, 2007;Lucas, 2009). The first human settlement of Iceland (landnám) is well documented to have occurred circa AD 870 (Sveinbjörnsdóttir et al 2004). Tephrochronological studies indicate that the settlement of Hofstaðir occurred shortly after AD 940 but by the Hekla eruption of AD 1104, the site had been abandoned for approximately 70 years (Sigurgeirsson, 2001;Lucas, 2009).…”

Charcoal Production During the Norse and Early Medieval Periods in Eyjafjallahreppur, Southern Iceland

“…This indicates that the birch roundwood was harvested while the shrubs/trees were still alive; therefore, it can be assumed that the wood used for the charcoal production was used shortly after harvesting because the bark and buds were still very well preserved when the wood was charred in the pits, removing the possibility of "old wood" contamination for the 14 C dates. This phenomenon has been demonstrated in landnám sites in Iceland (Sveinbjörnsdóttir et al 2004) and Iron Age sites in Atlantic Scotland (Ashmore 1999), and it is therefore very important to establish the archaeobotanical taphonomy of charcoal if used for 14 C dating in the North Atlantic. The equivalence of age of the death for the majority of the birch roundwood pieces in the charcoal assemblages meant that combining the 3 14 C dates for each site was legitimate.…”

“…The first human colonization of Iceland, known as landnám (Old Norse, meaning "land-take"), occurred relatively recently and is dated to around AD 870 (Sveinbjörnsdóttir et al 2004). Various researchers have estimated through computer modeling and palynology that approximately 15-40% of the land surface of Iceland was covered in birch (Betula sp.)…”