Argisbrekka – Trap The Faroe Islands

© Styrelsen for Dataforsyning og Infrastruktur

When the electricity company SEV had to dam Lake Eiðisvatn in 1986 as a water reservoir, it led to a major archaeological investigation of an area at Argisbrekka, where 22 small buildings made of turf were uncovered. Carbon 14 dating from the investigations shows that the shieling activity at Argisbrekka began during the 9th century and ended in the middle of the 11th century.

Shieling was part of the Landnam farming practices at this time, where, like in Norway, people stayed on the ærgi (mountain pasture) in the summer with the livestock.

Before Eiðisvatn was dammed in connection with the establishment of a hydropower the Norse settlements in Ireland and plant, archaeological remains of a shieling from the Viking Age were found on Argisbrekka. Since then, a study of sediments at the bottom of Eiðisvatn has dated the arrival of sheep and thus people to around the year 500.

Further reading