Palstoftir: A viking age shieling in Iceland

This paper discusses the recent excavation of a 10th century shieling in the highlands of eastern Iceland and places it in the context of other sites and research into Viking age shielings in the North Atlantic. Although the basic economic role of shielings in relation to livestock and summer transhumance is not contested, it is argued that a more complex interpretation needs to be developed around such sites, to consider their ideological and political status. The presence of 'subsidiary activities' is often a prominent element in the archaeological record of such sites; the site of Palstoftir provides indications of small scale craftwork, hunting and magico-religious practices which need to be made a more central part of interpretation.