Early Icelanders

Douglas James Bolender and John Beierle

Norse Iceland, Viking Age Iceland, Early Medieval Iceland, Commonwealth Iceland, Free State Iceland, Sturlunga Age Iceland.

Early Iceland comprises the period from the island's settlement by Norse Vikings in approximately 870 A.D. to its incorporation into the Norwegian state in 1262 A.D. The culture is known from archaeological, historical, and literary sources.

An island covering 103,000 km., Iceland is located in the North Atlantic Ocean just south of the Arctic Circle on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. These geological conditions produce a dramatic environment with a combination of volcanism and glacial activity. At the beginning of the Holocene the island was completely glaciated, and a number of large glaciers still exist. The interior of the land is barren plateau, and habitation has been largely limited to the coastal valleys and interior lowlands.

Seasonal variation in daylight is extreme. Around the summer solstice the sun only sets briefly, and it is never dark. In the winter the sun only rises for a few hours and is low enough on the southern horizon that deep valleys may not have direct sunlight for months. Despite its sub-arctic location, the climate in Iceland is moderate due to the Gulf Stream. Mean temperatures for Reykjavík from 1961-1990 were 10.6° C. in July and -0.5° C. in January. Temperatures were probably slightly warmer during the climatic optimum. Precipitation throughout the year is high, in excess of 800 mm/annum.

Historical sources set the beginning of Norse settlement in Iceland at approximately 870 A.D., a date that is generally collaborated by the archaeological evidence. There was no prior inhabitation with the exception of a few Irish monks who may have periodically visited the island beginning in the eighth century. The relative proportion of Norse (primarily Norwegian) and Celtic (from the northern British Isles) contributions to the original Icelandic population has been debated. Recent DNA analyses of the modern population indicate that the relative contributions are dramatically skewed by gender with the majority of females deriving from Celtic origins whereas the males appear to have been predominately Norse. Estimates of total population based on a survey of independent farmers conducted around the year 1100 indicate roughly 60,000 - 70,000 individuals.

At the time of settlement, the Icelanders spoke Old Norse (a Germanic language, in the large Indo-European group of languages), which was then common throughout Scandinavia. By the beginning of the twelfth century linguistic conservatism on the remote island society had introduced significant differences between Icelandic and its Scandinavian neighbors resulting in a distinct Icelandic. Prior to the conversion to Christianity in 1000 A.D., Old Norse was written in a runic alphabet. Runes had a restricted use and few runic inscriptions have survived from Iceland. With Christianity came the Roman alphabet and the expansion of written genres, which thrived in Iceland.

Iceland was a new society, however Icelandic culture perpetuated many of the cultural standards from Scandinavia, especially Norway. While both Norse and Celtic peoples contributed to the founding population they had unequal impacts on the culture of Iceland. Celts appear to have been incorporated into Norse households and appear to have little lasting impact on the cultural and institutional developments that were predominantly Scandinavian in origin.

The first settlers claimed lands and established dispersed farmsteads. Many of the economic practices were unsuitable to the fragile Icelandic environment and resulted in deforestation and land erosion, especially in the uplands. As population grew, settlement expanded, and new farmsteads were divided from previous land claims. In 930 A.D. the General Assembly (ALÞINGI) was founded, providing an institution integrating the entire island. The same assembly accepted Christianity as the religion of the land in 1000 A.D. The thirteenth century was a period of escalating conflict (STURLUNGAÖLD) chieftains attempted to exert control beyond their local regions. The system of autonomous chieftains ended after 1262 A.D. when Iceland came under Norwegian rule.

The Viking Age expansion into the North Atlantic did not end at Iceland. In the late tenth century Eirík the Red led a major venture to colonize Greenland and his son, Leifur Eiríksson, has been credited with the European discovery of North America. Early Icelanders maintained close ties with Scandinavia and the British Isles. Continental trading and raiding expeditions were common activities for those with the means to take a share in a boat. Their travels sometimes took them as far as Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean.

Early Icelandic settlement was completely non-urban and almost entirely restricted to dispersed farmsteads, which occupied the coastal plains and more hospitable inland valleys. The earliest farmhouses were of the long-house type: a single large oblong building sometimes with a few side additions and some out structures. The long-houses were designed around a central isle with raised platforms running along the sides for domestic activities and sleeping. Interior space was divided by wood partitions. The houses were constructed of sod around a timber frame.

The farmstead and household were largely self-sufficient. The economy was agro-pastoral. The first Icelanders brought cattle, sheep, horses, and pigs with them when the established farmsteads. Herding was transhumant. Herds were driven into the more mountainous common lands during the summer while hay was grown in homefields and collected from meadows and wetlands around the farmsteads to support the livestock through the winter. Grain was never a significant crop, and eventually its cultivation died out altogether. Fish also played an important role in subsistence. Oceanic species, such as cod, have been recovered in household excavations far inland and indicate either exchange or a high degree of labor mobility. Gathered resources - eggs, berries, and mosses - contributed to the diet.

There were no formal markets and most exchanges and payments, such as rents, were made in kind. Regular assemblies provided a venue for traders and specialized producers who also traveled among farmsteads. Despite the rarity of monetary exchanges, the Icelanders maintained a complex system of value equivalencies based on a silver ounce standard that encompassed most exchangeable goods.

Early Iceland had a limited range of material resources for manufacturing. Clays suitable for ceramic production are largely unavailable in Iceland. Woodworking and carpentry were essential to construction and the many household items were fashioned from driftwood. Bog iron was used for most metalworking and required charcoal production for smelting and working. Spinning and weaving from wool was a ubiquitous household industry. Leather was another important material in the production of clothing and household goods. Ale was locally produced, largely from imported grains and salt was made from burning kelp and seaweed.

The early Icelanders maintained commercial contacts with Europe and obtained goods from Scandinavia, England, the Norse Orkneys, and the Netherlands. The majority of trade, however, was with Norway, both for Norwegian goods and for foreign goods obtained by Norwegian merchants.

The limited resources, especially in terms of raw materials for manufactured goods, made Iceland highly dependent on imported goods. Even before the decline and cessation of grain production in Iceland it is unlikely that Iceland ever produced enough cereals to meet its own needs. Of special significance in a feasting economy, grain and malt were essential to ale production. After Christianization imported wine also become essential for the celebration of communion. Many higher quality iron products, for example weapons and armor, could not be produced from local sources and were imported, mostly in finished forms. Other metals - brass, tin, lead, gold, silver, and bronze - were unavailable locally as well as steatite for utensils and stone suitable for making whetstones.

Iceland had a limited number of exportable resources and goods. Homespun woolen cloth was the principal export and was a common standard of value in local exchanges. Sulfur, unavailable from any continental source, was a valuable commodity. Falcons and various animal skins - sheep, fox, and cat - were marketable as were cheese and possibly butter. Fish, the current mainstay of the Icelandic economy was not a significant export item in early Iceland.

Households were the basic production units but there were clear divisions within in the household. Shepherding was a suitable task for children, and they contributed to other activities around the farmstead. Spinning and weaving were women's activities as was cooking. Women were associated with the domestic activities of the household; however, they were also active in dairy production, even when this involved protracted stays at summer dairy stations in the highlands. Fishing and industries like charcoal making and smithing fell to men. Intensive seasonal tasks, such as hay cutting, drying, and storage, required the combined efforts of everyone in the household.

Initial land claims in Iceland were extensive and short-lived. Subsequent settlers and new generations rapidly divided the land into farmstead based properties. Control of a farmstead, through direct ownership or tenancy, was the basis of full membership within the society and was restricted to a small minority of individuals. Property was passed preferentially to male descendents. Once established, farmstead properties were extremely stable. Farms occupied at the time of settlement are still in use today and some survived periods of household abandonment to be reoccupied. Upland pastures were held in common by local communities (HREPPUR), which jointly managed their access and use. Farms also laid claim to special resources even when they were not on farmstead lands such as forests, turf and peat cutting areas, and drift rights on beaches.

The kindred (ŒTT) was the basic kin group outside of the immediate family. Lineages were traced back to a particular famous, usually, male ancestor and were limited at collaterals at fifth remove (fourth cousins).

Icelandic has classificatory kinship terminology but in practice various relations are often subsumed in blanket terms denoting any male or female relative outside of the immediate family. Icelandic names employ patronymics: a given name and then a second name derived from the genitive of the father's name with suffix -SON (son) or -DÓTTIR (daughter).

Marriage was restricted to persons with sufficient wealth to establish a viable household, which would have required a farmstead or some portion of a farmstead property. Given these restrictions marriage was available to a minority of the population, and extramarital unions and illegitimate offspring were common. Marriage was a union of families and involved the exchange of dowry and bride price. In practice, both dowry and bride price contributed to the formation of the new household but technically belonged to the bride or bride's family and resolved to the bride's family in the case of divorce. Postmarital residence was varied with couples living with either the male or female side of the family or establishing a new farmstead.

Households were synonymous with farmers, those who controlled a farmstead property. Households varied in organization and size from the small nuclear family to extended and stratified groups with attached laborers. All Icelanders were legally required to belong to a household.

Inheritance was by family descent from recognized marriages. Illegitimate offspring could not legally inherit, but special provisions for their establishment appear to have been standard and largely unchallenged. Male offspring had primary rights to family property, but women could inherit in the absence of competing male claims.

Prior to the introduction of Christianity, no formal educational system existed, but traditions and specialized skills were learnt in the household and were passed down through family lines. Privileged children may have been sent to especially talented or educated individuals for mentoring both in Iceland and overseas. After the introduction of Christianity, some houses developed as prominent places of learning where students could be sent for education.

The principal unit of social organization was the household. Those with rights to property, the farmer and his (or her) family, headed households. Large households incorporated a range of dependent labor: wage laborers, servants, and slaves. As an institution, slavery declined in the twelfth century and had probably disappeared sometime in the thirteenth century; however, social distinctions were maintained between self-sufficient farmers (either land-owners or renters) and the majority of the population who served as household labor.

The main cooperative unit outside of the household was the commune (HREPPUR). The commune was a territorial unit including many households (20 or more). The commune's main functions were management of summer grazing lands, the cooperative round up of animals in the fall, and care for paupers who had no other household support. They also provided some insurance to households against fire or the loss of livestock.

One of the peculiarities of early Iceland was the lack of formal state institutions. The legislature, extensive law code, and judicial system of local and higher courts left prosecution and the enforcement of settlements in the hands of individuals. From an early date, the country was divided into Quarters. Each quarter constituted a broad community with three assemblies (ÞINGS), with the exception of the Northern Quarter that had four, and a system of local courts. Once a year the General Assembly (ALÞINGI) met in the southwest of Iceland. Judicial cases that could not be resolved in local quarters were heard and the parliament (LÖGRÉTTA) convened. The parliament was the principal legislative institution and was responsible for the introduction and maintanence of law. It consisted of chieftains (GOÐAR) from the local quarters. After the conversion to Christianity, the two Icelandic bishops were each given a seat in the parliament.

The institution of chieftaincy (GOÐORÐ) was the main locus of political leadership in the country. Originally there were 36 but this number was later expanded. Chieftaincies themselves were a form of property and could be alienated and even divided among multiple individuals. In some cases, individuals asserted power beyond the scope of the political system and controlled multiple chieftaincies. All independent farmers had to be affiliated with a chieftain, although they could choose among any of the chieftains in their quarter and could switch allegiances if they did not feel that their needs were being met. Other than a seat on the parliament, chieftains had few rights beyond those of other independent farmers and few institutional means of dominating others. Chieftains derived much of their authority from their ability to broker support as advocates for their constituents in legal disputes or feuds.

Iceland had established systems of laws, assemblies, and judicial institutions to serve in resolving conflict but no centralized power to enforce order or verdicts. Everyone was legally required to belong to a farming household and individual farmers had authority over and responsibility for their households. Disputes, including injuries and killings, were settled through arbitration. The offending party paid compensation to the offended party. In more extreme cases the offending individual was outlawed, either for three years or permanently, and was official cast out of society and any right to compensation. Prosecution and collection of settlements was up to private individuals. Conflicts often overstepped institutional boundaries into blood feuds. Feuds could escalate well beyond the immediate individuals or households until the involved whole social networks. With the rise of chiefly power and territoriality in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries regional conflicts developed that eventually encompassed t he entire island. The decades of civil strife ended in 1262 A.D. when Iceland came under the authority of the Norwegian crown.

Isolated in the North Atlantic, Iceland had few external conflicts. Individual Icelanders were occasionally involved in conflict when outside the country and also sometimes served in foreign militaries. During the late tenth century, the Norwegian king was a champion of the Christian movement in Iceland and often attempted to assert his influence, although this was largely limited to Icelanders in Norway. Likewise, the ultimately successful attempts to incorporate Iceland under the Norwegian monarchy were mostly played out through alliances with individual Icelanders.

Iceland was settled before any significant impact of Christianity in Scandinavia and the early Icelanders were pagans. Many of the Celtic people incorporated in the foundational population were probably Christian but this appears to have had little impact in the society in general. Pre-Christian religious practices are known largely by poetic and literary sources, all recorded during the Christian era, and some traces of material culture. These sources depict a rich cosmology including the Norse pantheon of gods and giants. Thor held a place of special significance based on his frequent inclusion in person and place names. The Icelanders inhabited an environment rich in supernatural entities including trolls, elves, and ghosts. Prescience and magical abilities were often attributed to individuals. In 1000 A.D., responding to a combination of internal and foreign pressure exerted by the Norwegian king, the Icelanders meeting at the General Assembly decided to adopt Christianity as the common religion. Hencefor th Iceland was officially Christian although many of the traditional beliefs remained.

The political institution of chieftaincy (GOÐORÐ) was rooted in religious function, a priestly office of intermediary between the community and supernatural forces. It is unclear the degree to which the role of chieftains had been secularized by the occupation of Iceland, but it is likely chiefs played a continued role in local religious activities by performing rites and sacrifices. Religious activities were not exclusive to chieftains. Individuals played a variety of intermediary between the mundane and supernatural roles including private devotions, divination, and sorcery. The conversion to Christianity brought with it the institutions of priest and bishop to Iceland. Throughout much of the early period, the institutional power of the church was weak. Churches were located on privately owned farmlands and were built and maintained by the local farmers who maintained a priest or served as priest himself. The early farm churches were small and probably served little more than the household and immediate neighbors.

Pagan ceremonies were varied, and the details handed down by later Christian texts are not clear. Sacrificial rites performed by household heads or chieftains played a part in the ritual. Certain rituals seeking the intercession of spirits for divination or assistance (SEIÐR) were largely performed by women. Special cultic sites or buildings (HOFS) existed but religious ceremonies were not limited to these settings. Sacrificial activities were banned shortly after the conversion and Christian ceremonies such as baptism and communion were introduced.

One of the remarkable legacies of early Iceland is its wealth of literary production. Icelandic literary production encompassed continental chivalrous, hagiographic, and historical traditions, in addition to the autochthonous development of the saga. Among other topics, Icelandic sagas depict events from the early years of Icelandic society, the colonization of Greenland and the discovery of North America, and the civil wars that characterized the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in Iceland. The medieval manuscripts also preserve an artistic tradition in illumination. The literary levels achieved in Iceland, to some degree, developed from strong oral traditions of poetry and narrative. Much of the material culture of early Iceland has not been preserved but a strong tradition in artistic woodcarving is evident.

The Icelanders brought a strong tradition in folk medicine with them from Europe. Herbal remedies and magic properties attributed to incantations and runic inscriptions were used to fight variety of afflictions. Christian contact introduced classical medical practices - bloodletting, cauterizing, and surgery - as well as the intercession of Christian powers in healing.

The beliefs and practices associated with death and the afterlife for pre-Christian Iceland are difficult to reconstruct. Thanks to the Icelanders many of the poems and stories describing the pagan Norse cosmos were preserved and it seems reasonable to assume that the early Icelanders were aware of the Norse cosmology where dead are relegated to the shadow world (NIFLUNGAHEIMUR) and fallen warriors were sent toVALHÖLL and feast with ÓÐINN and await the final destruction of the universe in RAGNARÖK. Literary sources suggest that actual beliefs were varied with the dead residing in hills and mountains and quite often returning as ghosts to terrorize the living.

Pagan burials were commonly located on high ground near homefield boundaries perhaps marking ancestral claims to land. The small number of pagan burials found at any site can represent only a small portion of the total household and some other form of final deposition must have existed for much of the population. Along with radical changes in belief, the adoption of Christianity introduced churches and graveyards, which became the final resting place of most of the population.

Documents referred to in this section are included in the eHRAF collection and are referenced by author, date of publication and eHRAF document number.

The Early Icelanders collection consists of 23 documents, all in English, covering a time span ranging from the first Norse settlement in Iceland around 874 A.D. to Iceland's incorporation into the kingdom of Norway in approximately 1262 A.D. The major focus of the collection, however, is on the Commonwealth Period from 930 to 1262 A.D. Much of the cultural data gathered for this period comes from the analysis and interpretation of a number of Icelandic sagas written primarily in the thirteenth century, a period of great internal strife in Medieval Iceland. These sagas attempt to interpret what life was like in the tenth and eleventh centuries, but some scholars express concerns as to whether or not the sagas represent factual history or historical myths (see for example Bagge, 1992, no. 12; Durrenberger and Wilcox, 1992, no. 15; and Odner, 1992, no. 16). At any rate the majority of documents appearing in this collection derive their ethnographic information from the analysis and interpretation of the data appearing in the sa gas. Probably the most comprehensive study of the social, economic, and political changes taking place in Medieval Iceland over a four hundred year period is the work by Durrenberger (1992, no. l). This study begins with the first Norse settlement in Iceland around 874 A.D. and ends with the incorporation of Iceland into the kingdom of Norway in 1264 A.D. This period is characterized by the fact that while society was definitely stratified, there was no organization at the state level. This document is further supplemented by the data appearing in Durrenberger, Durrenberger and Eysteinsson, 1988, no. 2, and Durrenberger, 1988, no. 3. The structural analysis of the sagas themselves as an important source of information on the Medieval Iceland period, appears in several of the works in this collection, especially Durrenberger, 1991, no. 6, Gísli Pálsson, 1992, no. 11, and Tulinius, 1992, no. 17. Other ethnographic topics appearing in the various works in this collection are: law and the loss of honor, in Durr enberger, 1992, no. 4; sorcery and witchcraft in Gísli Pálsson, 1991, no. 7; the analysis of the expression of emotion as they reflect specific personalities in Miller, 1192, no. 14; the outlaw in Icelandic society, in Amory, 1992, no. 19; attitudes toward trade and marketing, in Helgi Þorláksson, 1992, no. 22; the cultural conceptions of gender and gender roles, in Linke, 1992, no. 24, and Karras, 1992, no. 25; and the status, wealth, power, and social relationships of Icelandic chieftains, in Samson, 1992, no. 18, and Jón Vidðar Sigurðsson, 1992, no. 20.

For more detailed information on the content of the individual works in this collection, see the abstracts in the citations preceding each document.

This culture summary was written by Douglas James Bolender in June 2003. The synopsis and indexing notes were prepared by John Beierle in July 2003.

• ÞINGMENN -- followers of a chieftain -- category 571

• Alþing -- the general assembly -- category 646

• BOENDUR -- independent farmers (in the class structure) -- category 565

• BOUGATAL -- wergild divisions -- categories 628, 681

• COTTARS -- dependent farmers (in the class structure) -- category 565

• DRENGSKAPUR -- honor -- category 577

• general assembly -- category 646

• GOÐAR -- chieftains -- categories 634, 554

• GOÐORÐ -- territorial units or districts -- category 634

• GRÁGÁS -- law books -- category 671

• HREPPAR or HREPPUR -- municipalities; economic and political units -- categories 571, 631, 634

• LÖGRÉTTA -- the law council -- category 692

• lawspeakers -- category 693

• LEIGFENDINGAR -- tenants -- category 427

• local assemblies -- category 634

• RÍKI -- districts with fairly fixed boundaries (small states) -- category 634

• sagas -- category 5310

• STÓRRÍKI -- large states, composed of two or more RÍKI -- category 634

Amorosi, Thomas, Paul Buckland, Andrew Dugmore, Jón Ingimundarson and Thomas McGovern. "Raiding the Landscape: Human Impact in the Scandinavian North Atlantic," Human Ecology 25: 491-518. 1997.

Amorosi, Thomas, Paul Buckland, K. Edwards, I. Mainland, Thomas McGovern, J. Sadler and P. Skidmore. "They Did Not Live by Grass Alone: The Politics and Paleoecology of Animal Fodder in the North Atlantic Region," Environmental Archaeology 1: 41-54. 1998.

Barret, James, Roelf Beukens, Ian Simpson, Patrick Ashmore, Sandra Poaps and Jacqui Huntley. "What Was the Viking Age and When Did It Happen? A View from Orkney," Norwegian Archaeological Review 33(1): 1-40. 2000.

Byock, Jesse. Medieval Iceland: Society, Sagas, and Power. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1988.

Byock, Jesse L. Viking Age Iceland. New York: Penguin, 2001.

Clover, Carol J. "The Politics of Scarcity: Notes on the Sex Ratio in Early Scandinavia," Scandinavian Studies 60 (2): 147-188. 1988.

DuBois, Thomas A. Nordic Religions in the Viking Age. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.

Durrenberger, E. Paul. "Production in Medieval Iceland," Acta Archaeologica (Copenhagen) 61: 14-21. 1990.

Durrenberger, E. Paul. The Dynamics of Medieval Iceland, Political Economy and Literature. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1992.

Einarsson, Bjarni. The Settlement of Iceland: A Critical Approach, GranastaðIr and the Ecological Heritage. Gothenburg: Gothenburg University: Department of Anthropology, 1994.

Fitzhugh, Willaim W. and Elisabeth I. Ward (eds.) Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000.

Gelsinger, Bruce E. Icelandic Enterprise, Commerce and Economy in the Middle Ages. Columbia: University of Carolina Press, 1981.

Hastrup, Kirsten. Culture and Society in Medieval Iceland. Oxford: Claredon Press, 1985.

Helgason, Agnar, Sigrún Sigurðardóttir, Jeffrey R. Gulcher, Ryk Ward and Kári Stefánsson. "Mtdna and the Origin of the Icelanders: Deciphering Signals of Recent Population History," American Journal of Human Genetics 66: 999-1016. 2000.

Helgason, Agnar, Sigrún Sigurðardóttir, Jayne Nicholson, Bryan Sykes, Emmeline W. Hill, Daniel G. Bradley, Vidar Bosnes, Jeffrey R. Gulcher, Ryk Ward and Kári Stefánsson. "Estimating Scandinavian and Gaelic Ancestry in the Male Settlers of Iceland," American Journal of Human Genetics 67: 697-717. 2000.

Helgason, Agnar, Eileen Hickey, Sara Goodacre, Vidar Bosnes, Kári Stefánsson, Ryk Ward and Bryan Sykes. "Mtdna and the Islands of the North Atlantic: Estimating the Proportions of Norse and Gaelic Ancestry," American Journal of Human Genetics 68: 723-737. 2001.

Ingimundarson, Jón. Of Sagas and Sheep: Toward a Historical Anthropology of Social Change and Production for Market, Subsistence and Tribute in Early Iceland (10th to the 13th Century. Ph.D. Thesis. Tucson: University of Arizona, 1995.

Jochens, Jenny. Women in Old Norse Society. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1995.

Jóhannesson, Jon. Islendinga Saga. Haroldor Bessason (transl.). Manitoba: University of Manitoba Press, 1974.

Karlsson, Gunnar. Iceland's 1100 Years: The History of a Marginal Society. Reykjavík: Mál og Menning, 2000.

Karras, Ruth Mazo. Slavery and Society in Medieval Scandinavia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988.

McGovern, Thomas. "Archaeology of the North Atlantic," Annual Review of Anthropology 19: 331-351. 1990.

McGovern, Thomas, Gerald Bigelow, Thomas Amorosi and D. Russel. "Northern Islands, Human Error, and Environmental Degradation: A View of Social Ecological Change in the Medieval North Atlantic," Human Ecology 16: 225-270. 1988.

Miller, William I. Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Feud, Law, and Society in Saga Iceland. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.

Nordal, Guðrún. Ethics and Action in Thirteenth Century Iceland. Odense: Odense University Press, 1998.

Ogilvie, Astrid E. J. "Climatic Changes in Iceland A.D. C. 865 to 1598," Acta Archaeologica (Copenhagen) 61: 233-251. 1990.

Smith, Kevin P. "Landnám: The Settlement of Iceland in Archaeological and Historical Perspective," World Archaeology 26 (3): 319-346. 1995.

Vésteinsson, Orri. The Christianization of Iceland: Priests, Power, and Social Change 1000-1300. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.