The medieval trading station at Gásir, Eyjafjörður, N Iceland: Interim Report of faunal analysis from the 2006 Excavations

Archaeological excavations at the site of Gásir near the modern city of Akureyri were started in 2002 and directed by Howell Roberts of Fornleifastofnun Íslands (Archaeological Institute Iceland, FSĺ) for Minjasafnið á Akureyri (Akureyri Museum). The project, whose excavation phase was concluded in the summer of 2006, has produced a substantial amount of animal bones, which have been continuously analyzed at the CUNY Northern Science & Education Center laboratories as part of the North Atlantic Biocultural Organization cooperative effort, with funding provided by the UK Leverhulme Trust. Analysis of the 2006 zooarchaeological remains was carried out by Ramona Harrison. The Gásir excavations were part of a larger scale, long term project which aims to investigate the remains of the high medieval trading center at Gásir, and to place the site in a regional and historical context. Analysis of the Gásir assemblage is to be continued and this report is thus only a working paper to be updated and replaced as more data is extracted from the faunal materials The 2006 archaeofauna, albeit smaller in number, continues some of the patterns in mammal bone distribution observed in previous years, an adds some interesting new ones that will be addressed in this report. For more thorough detail on the collections analyzed in the previous years (2002-2005), it is helpful to refer to the earlier NORSEC Zooarchaeology reports and FSÍ excavation reports (see references). Radiocarbon dates and associated Carbon and Nitrogen isotopic assays carried out on mammal bone and marine shell by Dr. Gordon Cook (Scottish Universities Reactor Center) provide both chronology and some indication of differential grazing patterns in stock brought to Gásir. Although this work was presented in 2005 also, the isotopic data was found to have good demonstrative value in placing the site within an occupational timeframe from the 13th through the 15th Centuries, which roughly reflects temporal references extracted from artefacts and documented sources. While an earlier occupation is entirely possible, there is no clear evidence of such at present.

Zooarchaeological data from the years 2002 through 2006 have been used for this report, offering a total NISP (Number of Identified Species) of 8,655 out of a TNF (Total Number of Fragments) of 17,633. A potential indicator for preservation related bone analysis and trampled or repeatedly accessed site areas could come from the 2006 bone material. In 2006 only 171 (NISP) out of a TNF of 1341 could be grouped to species or family levels. Since there was proportionally high amount of UNIMs (Unitentified Mammal species), this taphonomic indicator will be discussed further.

Archaeofauna Gásir Iceland zooachaeology

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