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Project Details: From Iceland to New Iceland. The Archaeology of 19th-century Emigration

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Project Description

Title: From Iceland to New Iceland. The Archaeology of 19th-century Emigration
Description The project is apart of Agusta Edwald's current PhD research project at the Department of Archaeology, University of Aberdeen. The project is supervised by Dr. Karen Milek and Dr. Jeff Oliver. It aims to shed light on the experience of Icelandic immigrants to Canada in the late 19th century. It has been estimated that around 20,000 individuals emigrated from Iceland to North America in the late 19th century in the period from 1870-1914. The emigration amounted to an exodus from Iceland, which at the time was a sparsely populated colony of Denmark. Around one in five people left the country, an estimated 20% of the nation, with the majority settling in Manitoba. Adjustment to new cultures and environments is not automatic but involves conscious choices, decisions and actions of both individuals and groups. Archaeologists are well equipped to study periods of cultural contact as these decisions and actions are often manifested in the material culture of individuals and/or groups and are evident in the material record they left behind. By focusing on two farmsteads, one in Iceland and one in the former colony of New Iceland, Manitoba, the research aims to detect nuanced changes that were experienced during the emigration period and to narrate personal stories of peoples' lives. These narratives can then be juxtaposed with other research focussing on broad social changes and political reform during this transformative period in the history of both Iceland and Canada. The Icelandic farmstead was home to a family who emigrated to Canada in 1876. It is called Hornbrekka and is located in Skagafjörður in North Iceland. The excavation at Hornbrekka took place in August 2009. The Canadian homestead was claimed by an Icelandic family in 1878, it is called Vidivellir and is on the outskirts of Riverton, Manitoba. The excavation at Vidivellir took place in June 2010.
Keywords:19th-century
emigration
Iceland
New
Iceland
Sponsors/Funders Fornleifasjóður, Government of Canada, Collage of Physical Sciences University of Aberdeen, SIET, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland
Country Iceland
Region Höfðaströnd, Skagafjörður
Project Start Year 2008
Project End Year 2011

Project Contact

Contact: Ágústa Edwald
Address Department of Archaeology St Mary´s, Elphinstone Road Aberdeen
Postcode AB24 3UF
Email agusta_edwald@abdn.ac.uk

Project Content

Hornbrekka excavation report
Preliminary excavation report from 2009 excavation at Hornbrekka on Höfðaströnd, N-Iceland.

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