Today I went to Glaumbaer and hopped in and out of our trenches there, observing and studying what their profiles revealed. After doing that for a few hours, Anna and I profiled one that cuts through a pit or ditch, then has turf slumped down into it.

The pit or ditch cuts through the white 1104 tephra layer, so we know someone dug it after that date. About halfway up the side of the cross-cut section, we see a natural layer of dark grey/blue tephra laid down in 1766, so we know that it was open then. Above it, some of the slumped turfs contain the 1766 tephra so we know that a building nearby had turfs cut after that date and that they slowly slid down and into the ditch. I believe that there used to be a ditch here, next to a structure, that carried away water from it.

Tomorrow several of us have to give presentations and a mini-conference here at the college. We will present our work in the morning, and in the afternoon some Icelanders will talk about the history of the region and about local archaeology. In order to prepare for this presentation, I've been typing like mad for the past hour and half. I took a break for dinner (pizza, salad, french fries and ice cream) and will resume work on the presentation shortly. I'll post it as a separate entry in all likelihood.

On Sunday most of us will take a boat cruise off the north end of Skagafjord and see all the really cool steep-cliffed rock islands out there. Should be cold.

Oh yeah... one of the trenches at Glaumbaer has a capping layer of 1104 tephra, which means the building is rather old and perhaps historically significant. A couple of TV crews have been out to interview John yesterday and today.