Handbook for the Deceased: Re-Evaluating Literature and Folklore
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HANDBOOK FOR THE DECEASED: RE-EVALUATING LITERATURE AND FOLKLORE IN ICELANDIC ARCHAEOLOGY by BRENDA PREHAL A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York. 2021 © 2020 BRENDA PREHAL All rights reserved. ii Handbook for the Deceased: Re-evaluating Literature and Folklore in Icelandic Archaeology by Brenda Prehal This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Anthropology in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date Thomas McGovern Chair of Examining Committee Date Jeff Maskovsky Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Timothy Pugh Astrid Ogilvie Adolf Frðriksson THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT Handbook for the Deceased: Re-Evaluating Literature and Folklore in Icelandic Archaeology by Brenda Prehal Advisor: Thomas McGovern The rich medieval Icelandic literary record, comprised of mythology, sagas, poetry, law codes and post-medieval folklore, has provided invaluable source material for previous generations of scholars attempting to reconstruct a pagan Scandinavian Viking Age worldview. In modern Icelandic archaeology, however, the Icelandic literary record, apart from official documents such as censuses, has not been considered a viable source for interpretation since the early 20th century. Although the Icelandic corpus is problematic in several ways, it is a source that should be used in Icelandic archaeological interpretation, if used properly with source criticism. This dissertation aims to advance Icelandic archaeological theory by reintegrating the medieval and post-medieval Icelandic literary corpus back into archaeological interpretation. The literature can help archaeologists working in Iceland to find pagan religious themes that span time and place. Utilizing source criticism as well as interdisciplinary methods, such as animal aDNA, this work presents two case studies of often ignored grave goods. These grave goods are found in both Icelandic pagan graves as well as in the graves of the pagan Scandinavian homelands, spanning from the Stone Age up until the Middle Ages. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to start by thanking my close family and friends for supporting me emotionally for all these years, especially my parents. Dearest friends, you know who you are. My committee is made up of incredibly talented and insightful scholars, whom I am very grateful for. Thank you to Tom McGovern for allowing me to attend the field school in the Westfjords of Iceland many, many years ago: I am still in Iceland. Thank you to Adolf Friðriksson who inspires and encourages my love of the strange. I would also like to thank Tim Pugh for also encouraging this as well as helping me with putting together my first ever course I taught, “Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion.” Astrid Ogilvie has been a huge inspiration for how to properly criticize source material and apply it to archaeology. Many colleagues along the way have also been a tremendous asset, especially those at CUNY and at Fornleifastofnun Íslands. CUNY colleagues, Sant Mukh Khalsa, Ceecee Cesario, Megan Hicks, Cameron Turley, Frank Feeley, and Ramona Harrison, thank you for either letting me dig holes in your sites and/or also for crying in class with me. Thank you to Sólveig Beck for helping me with my weird little stones. Thank you also to Lilja Björk Pálsdóttir for the great fun and for showing me your amazing archaeology skills. Thank you to Guðrun Alda Gísladóttir for providing unlimited data, artifacts, and beer access. Hildur Gestsdóttir deserves a huge thanks for teaching me how to excavate my first graves. Howell Roberts also deserves a thanks for making me walk through a horrible bog for weeks to excavate a really fun pagan cemetery in the middle of nowhere. Thanks to Lisabet Guðmundarsdóttir and Dawn Elise Mooney for suffering in those walks with me. v Other colleagues I would like to thank are: Terry Gunnell, for being an inspiration in interdisciplinary collaboration; Ármann Guðmundsson for helping me navigate the National Museum of Iceland’s storage; Liv Aurdal for sharing similar ideas; Kolbrún Kolbeinsdóttir and Kristine Mærsk Werner for helping me translate Icelandic and Danish; Vicki Szabo for attempting to do cool stuff with cats with me; Eva-Marie Geigl for doing the cool stuff with cats with me; Anne Birgitte Gotfredsen and Kristian Murphey Gregersen of The Danish Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen for combing through their databases for me; and Susanne Bjerknæs Petersen from the Agency for Culture and Palaces of Denmark for combing through her database as well. Lastly, I would like to thank the Leifur Eiríksson Foundation for financially supporting my research in Iceland. vi CONTENTS Page DEDICATION…………………………………………………………………………………..viii LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………………………......ix LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………………… ix LIST OF APPENDICES………………………………………………………….....................….x GLOSSARY………………………………………………….......................................................xi LANGUAGE CONVENTIONS………………………………………………………...............xiv CHAPTER 1 Introduction…..……….…………………………………………………...…….…1 CHAPTER 2 Norse and Icelandic History…..……..…………………………………………...35 CHAPTER 3 Theory and Methodology.....…………..………………………………………….64 CHAPTER 4 Source Criticism.......………………………………………………………..…...106 CHAPTER 5 Case Study No. 1: Cats……………………………………………..……..……...149 CHAPTER 6 Case Study No. 2: White Pebbles/Quartz……………………………..………….184 CHAPTER 7 Discussion and Conclusion………………...……………………………………226 APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................236 REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………………............379 vii DEDICATION This work is dedicated to: My daughter, Eydís Líf, who inspires me every day. And to my husband, Ingvi, whose unconditional support has been a lifeline. viii TABLES Page Table 1 Description of the Family Sagas Used in the Case Studies………………….....….….…138 Table 2 Description of the Heroic Sagas Used in the Case Studies ……………………………142 Table 3 Icelandic Literary References to Cats.……………………………………………….....153 Table 4 Icelandic Literary References to Special Stones..............................................................190 FIGURES Page Figure 1 Excavated Graves in Sweden by Time Period ………………………………………160 Figure 2 Excavated Swedish Graves with Cat Inclusions by Time Period……………………161 Figure 3 Excavated Swedish Graves with Cat Inclusions within the Iron Age.………………...162 Figure 4 Excavated Swedish Graves with Cat Inclusions by Grave Type ………………………163 Figure 5 Excavated Swedish Graves with Cat Inclusions by Cremation vs. Inhumation ………164 Figure 6 Excavated Swedish Graves with Cat Inclusions by Animal Inclusions …………….....164 Figure 7 Excavated Swedish Graves with Cat Inclusions by Cat Bone Type .............................165 Figure 8 Excavated Swedish Graves with Cat Inclusions by Artifact Type ...............................166 Figure 9 Excavated Swedish Graves with Cat Inclusions by Artifact Material ..........................167 Figure 10 Map of Icelandic geology and the placement of graves with stones ..........................188 Figure 11 Quartz stones from the Icelandic pagan grave at Ytra-Garðshorn, Grave 9 ...............195 Figure 12 Excavated Norwegian Graves with Quartz Inclusions by Time Period ......................201 Figure 13 Excavated Norwegian Graves with Quartz Inclusions by Artifact Type ....................202 Figure 14 Excavated Norwegian Graves with Quartz Inclusions by Artifact Material ...............203 Figure 15 Excavated Swedish Graves with Quartz Inclusions by Time Period ..........................204 Figure 16 Excavated Swedish Graves with Quartz Inclusions by Time Range ..........................205 Figure 17 Excavated Swedish Graves with Quartz Inclusions by Burial Type ...........................206 Figure 18 Excavated Swedish Graves with Quartz Inclusions by Cremation vs. Inhumation .....206 Figure 19 Excavated Swedish Graves with Quartz Inclusions by Animal Inclusions ................207 Figure 20 Excavated Swedish Graves with Quartz Inclusions by Artifact Type ........................208 Figure 21 Excavated Swedish Graves with Quartz Inclusions by Artifact Material ...................208 Figure 22 Excavated Icelandic Graves with Quartz Inclusions by Artifact Type ........................212 Figure 23 Excavated Icelandic Graves with Quartz Inclusions by Artifact Material ...................212 Figure 24 Hofstaðir skull 104X with stones ................................................................................214 Figure 25 Opal that resembles bone found in Icelandic grave, Kornhóll Grave 2 .......................223 Figure 26 Zeolite that looks like bone found in Icelandic grave, Sílastaðir Grave 3 ..................224 ix APPENDICES Appendix A Icelandic Literature Categorized …………………………………………………236 Appendix B Icelandic Literary References to Cats ……………………………………………239 Appendix C Literary References to Special Stones.…………………………………………...249 Appendix D Icelandic Sites with Cats……………………………………………..................…261 Appendix E Norwegian Sites with Cats………………………………...................……………262 Appendix F Danish Sites with Cats………………….....................………………………….....264 Appendix G Swedish Sites with Cats............................................................................................266 Appendix H Icelandic