In May and June of 2013 I spent about a month hiking,
camping, and basically exploring the wonderful country of Iceland. Not only
does the country have spectacular natural wonders to marvel over but it also has
amazing little museums all over the country that give a lot of insight into the
early settlement of Iceland. One of the most interesting exhibits that I saw
was the Settlement Exhibition. Located in Reykjavik it is actually built around
an archaeological excavation of what is believed to be the earliest house in
Iceland. Although this site itself does not pertain to the study of archaeology
of death it got me thinking about this subject as it pertains to Iceland. I
think it would be interesting to look at burial practices in Iceland from all
historical periods. I also think it would be fascinating to look at the Viking
burials in Iceland to see if there were noticeable differences between them and
Viking Burials found in other parts of Europe during the same time. Due to
Iceland’s lack of resources (i.e. wood) it would be interesting to evaluate
whether cremations occurred or weather they were rare. Another aspect I would
like to know more about, and this isn’t just confined to Iceland, is in
situations where bodies are not recovered (i.e. volcanic eruptions, missing
hikers, landslides, jökulhlaups,
etc) are the funerals and burials the same as when there is a body? Are there
aspects (other then no body) that show archaeologist that these burials are
different?
Below are a couple of my pictures from the settlement exhibition. They do not really do it justice but you get the idea!
Below are a couple of my pictures from the settlement exhibition. They do not really do it justice but you get the idea!
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