Schmid, Magdalena Maria Elisabeth (2015) Archaeological dating evidence in Viking Age Iceland: A critical review. Ólafía, 5. pp. 97-110.

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Abstract

In recent years intensive archaeological research on the Viking Age in Iceland the landnám. The ongoing debate, both about the landnám as well as related processes, has suffered from the general tendency to separate archaeological and of the principal dating methodologies – tephrochronology, radiocarbon dating, and typology. Tephrochronology is a useful stratigraphic method, relying on the Law of Superposition, for linking and dating archaeological sequences. However, tephrochronology has its limitations: most settlements do not give closer dating ranges than c. AD 870 to 930-940 and AD 930-940 to 1104 and tephra layers are not always documented in situ. Radiocarbon and typological data can be used to corroborate tephrochronology; however, they still have very broad dating ranges. Additional methods can improve the temporal resolution of individual sites: soil accumulation rates describe relationships between geological and historical events; cluster analyses provide relative chronologies of archaeological material; Bayesian statistics interpret multiple radiocarbon data integrated within site stratigraphy. The correlation of multidisciplinary approaches may be able to characterise different phases of Viking Age Iceland and contribute to our understanding of colonisation processes throughout the country.

Item ID:	77058
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1670-6498
Keywords:	Iceland, Viking age, tephrochronology, Bayesian statistics, chronology
Copyright Information:	Icelandic Association of Archaeologists © 2022.
Date Deposited:	07 Feb 2025 05:44
FoR Codes:	43 HISTORY, HERITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 4301 Archaeology > 430101 Archaeological science @ 100%
SEO Codes:	13 CULTURE AND SOCIETY > 1307 Understanding past societies > 130704 Understanding Europe’s past @ 100%
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