Acr21.tmp.pdf

Ill

AN ACCOUNT OF THE EXCAVATION OF FURTHER BUILDINGS

OF THE VIKING PERIOD (VIKING HOUSE NO. II), AT

"JARLSHOF," SUMBURGH, SHETLAND, CARRIED OUT

ON BEHALF OF H.M. OFFICE OF WORKS BY ALEX. O.

CURLE, C.V.O., LL.D., F.S.A.ScoT., F.S.A.

When ground was first broken revealing the existence of remains of

a Viking settlement at Jarlshof, it happened to be at a spot where an

alleyway ran between two buildings, and which had been used in later

times as the site of a midden. In the summer of 1934 the more westerly

of the two buildings was explored and duly reported on. 1

In 1935 the structure on the opposite side of the alley, and a group

of associated chambers to the south-east, were examined. Unfortunately

the greater part of the meadow in which the ruins were situated had been

brought under cultivation, and a crop of bere prevented the complete

exploration of the site towards the east. The building facing the alley

was in a very ruinous condition and the plan difficult to ascertain.

Originally it had been a house, possibly a dwelling, or a range of

rooms or offices associated with another Viking house lying to the

east of it in the ground under crop. It measured some 50 feet in

length, was rounded at either end, and lay parallel to the dwelling pre-

viously excavated (see plan, Plate I). There had been an entrance 3 feet

1 Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot,, vol. Ixix. p. 265.

252 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, FEBRUARY 10, 1936.

in width through the main wall, distant some 6 feet or so from what

appeared to have been the south-east end. It may have been coeval

with the other house, or even earlier, as the drain which crossed the floor

of the latter belonging to the second period of occupation had been

responsible for a partial destruction, and very rough replacement, of the

north-west portion of the front wall, under which it partially passed. Of

the original house very little apparently remained. The outer face of the

front wall, from a short return which seemed to be the only remaining

portion of the south-east gable, extended along the side of the alley

for a distance of 32 feet, built apparently in characteristic fashion with

alternate layers of turf and stone. At the end of this section there was

a slight projection outwards, causing a departure from the original align-

ment in the farther extension of the front. This latter portion of the

wall was entirely a reconstruction formed of large stones roughly put

together (fig. 2). Beneath the right-angled projection where the align-

ment changed, there was an inlet into the drain, evidently intended to

catch surface water from the alley, the surface-level of which had a

fall of 1 foot 3 inches from the south-east to this point, and it had

possibly been in connection with the formation of this drain that the wall

had been reconstructed. A portion of the original wall remained at the

north-west end, while on the outer front, .except for a short stretch of

walling some 3 to 4 feet in length which had collapsed inwards, no trace

of the original wall remained, as far as ascertainable.

Seemingly the whole building had been allowed to fall into ruin

and then reconstructed for secondary purposes. It had apparently

been a three-roomed house. Though the outer wall on the north-east

side had practically disappeared its line towards the north-west end

must have passed close by the ends of the platforms indicated on the

plan (Plate I) at the entrances to Rooms I and II, with the exception of

the end of the platform on the left of the entrance to Room I, which

had obviously been displaced. What happened eastward of that it is

difficult to say. Room III had originally been some 25 feet in length,

but, owing to alteration in the south-west wall, was of unascertainable

width.

The three rooms, after final abandonment of the dwelling, had been

used as ash-pits, for peat-ash lay deep over the floors, and in Room I

there was also a considerable amount of food refuse. Room I, which

was irregular in shape owing probably to the dwelling having tapered

towards the end, measured some 9 feet in length by 7 feet 6 inches in

width where widest. There was evidence of two or three occupations,

recognisable by the occurrence of flooring flags, and, in one instance, of a

FURTHER BUILDINGS OF THE VIKING PERIOD.

253

short length of inferior building, at different levels, but no indications of

the periods to which they belonged. The floor had been paved, and there

was no discoloration of the soil which actually covered it. The walls

forming the chamber were in a very ruinous condition, as the methods of

building employed by the Norsemen did not make for any permanent

stability. From the north-east there was an entrance to the room some

Fig. 2. North-west end, showing Reconstruction of Wall.

4 feet 6 inches in length, with platforms extending the length of the

passage on either side (fig. 3), measuring in width about 4 feet, and, as

remaining, some 2 feet in height, formed of earth enclosed with walling.

In the interior of the room a single upright slab was set in the floor at right

angles to the inner wall of the end platform. At the base of the partition

wall dividing this room from Boom II there were the remains of a flue

which must have been connected with a furnace, from, which came some

specimens of iron slag and of bog iron.

An opening in the partition wall in the south corner of the room gave

access to Boom II. This had been a larger chamber than Boom I,

254 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, FEBRUARY 10, 1936.

measuring about 12 feet by 9. The floor of it was also paved, and it

dipped towards the entrance, which was, as in the previous case, from

the north-east. The passage led inwards for a distance of 4 feet with

a width of a little over a foot. The walls on either side were set deep, but

the lower part of the passage was filled in with broken stones and debris

Fig. 3. Entrance to Room I, showing Platforms to right and left.

as if for drainage. A single lintel at the inner end covered the passage,

leaving a space below such as might have allowed entrance for pigs or sheep

(fig. 4). As in the case of Room I, a platform flanked the passage on

either side faced with stones, and in the south-east corner of the room

there were the remains of another platform in a ruinous state. In the

opposite corner a recess had been formed behind a short projecting wall.

Parallel, and only a few inches in front of the north-west "wall of this

room, there "was a bench about 1^ foot in width, and similar in height,

formed of turf or soil, with one or two upright stones on the side, and

covered with flat stones like drain covers. Benches, somewhat similar

on plan, are shown to have existed in Greenland, where they were

FURTHER BUILDINGS OF THE VIKING PERIOD. 255

employed to support hacks to hold hay for feeding sheep. 1 The character

of the passage as above described admits of such a possibility in the

likelihood of this chamber having been used for sheep or pigs in one

part of its history.

The plan and evolution of Room III was very difficult to comprehend

Fig. 4. Entrance to Boom II, with a Lintel over it.

(fig. 5). It had been an oblong chamber, measuring in length 25 feet

from the end wall on the south-east to the face of the actual wall

separating it from Room II, and some 13 feet in width. At a distance

of some 4 feet 6 inches in front of the latter, parallel, and extending

almost to the full width of the room, was another wall, in a ruinous con-

dition, but remaining to a height of about 1 foot, in two courses, which

acted as a facing to a bench of soil, probably employed as a dais.

Crossing this wall at its north-east end is a single line of flat stones,

which suggested the base of a later retaining wall. It was carried right

forward beyond the apparent edge of the building, but could not be

1 See Daniel Brunn, Fortidsmindivog Nutidshjem paa Island, Copenhagen, 1928, p. 283.

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: