01- The Mosfell Archaeological Project
02- Project Goals & Participants
03- The Mosfell Valley
04- Archaeological Field Work Results
05- 1995 Field Season: Mosfell Church
06- 1998 Field Season: Survey
07- 1999 Field Season: Geophysics & Phosphate Survey
08- 2001 Field Season: Hrísbrú Burial Ground
09- 2002 Field Season: Churchyard & Cremation
10- 2003 Field Season: Churchyard & Cremation
11- 2004 Field Season: Hrísbrú Stave Church Uncovered
12- 2005 Field Season: Egil’s Grave? & Ship-settings
13-2006 Field Season: A Viking Longhouse at Hrísbrú
14- 2007 Field Season: Uncovering the Viking Longhouse
15- 2008 Field Season: Hrísbrú Longhouse Revealed
16- 2009 Field Season: Regional Survey in the Mosfell Valley
17- International Collaboration
18- Historical Sources & Archaeology
19- Burial at Hrísbrú & Evidence of Violence
20- Mosfell & the Viking World
21- Future Research & Questions to Explore
Jesse Byock Viking Site
Mosfell and the Viking World Previous | Next  

 

The Mosfell Archaeological Project has implications for the larger study of Viking Age and later medieval Iceland. Mosfellssveit encapsulates the major ecologies of Iceland: coastal, riverine, and highland.

Culturally, the region is equally representative. In some ways it was a self-contained social and economic unit. In other ways it was connected to the rest of Iceland, not least through a network of roads, including an east-west route to the nearby meeting of the yearly Althing, Iceland's medieval parliament.

With its coastal port at Leiruvogur the region was in commercial and cultural contact with the larger Scandinavian and European worlds, as far east as the Caspian Sea.

Viking Age Artifact from Mosfell Excavation

A Viking Age ring pin from the Mosfell Archaeological Project excavations.

Tenth Century Beads from the Caspian Sea Excavated from the Hrisbrú Longhouse
Tenth century “eye beads” from the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea found in the Hrísbrú longhouse.

Knörr (Viking Merchant Ship)
A drawing of a Viking merchant ship.
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