Monday, August 14- The Settlement House Museum

I’d deliberately left this day unscheduled; when the weather was cloudy with a few drizzles I decided to visit a museum and chose the Settlement House, which was built to surround a long house built around AD 870.  It was discovered when excavation began for a new hotel.  At great expense, the remains of the house were preserved, including a turf wall which had to be dessicated so it wouldn’t crumble into dust, and a spring which came near the house and probably motivated the occupants to abandon it only 70 years after it was built because of chronic dampness.

I’d been there almost an hour, happily wandering in the small space and using my Icelandic- English dictionary to compare the Icelandic and English words in the information posted by the exhibits when a free guided tour began.  The guide, who had the delightful name of Ragnhildur, was an archaeologist who really knew her stuff.  I learned a lot about the culture and the history.  She noted that many of the household items in the exhibit came from other museums because it was so rare to find intact household objects.  They were generally used until they fell apart.  They’re still learning so much about early settlers that she admitted that in 20 years everything she told us might prove to be false!  As an example, she showed us two areas where walrus bones had been built into the walls, possibly for religious purposes.  They’d thought they were cow or sheep bones until a visitor with expertise in animal bones said that might be incorrect.  He did more research after he went home and told them they were walrus bones. 

I asked if it was likely that construction of other (relatively) modern buildings in the area might have resulted in the destruction of other long houses.  She said that they didn’t excavate that deeply in the nineteenth century but that in the 20ths century some had probably been destroyed- specifically in the construction of the nearby Salvation Army headquarters.  

This display includes colored glass beads found from the same era; some were from as far away as India, indicating extensive trade routes.

 On my way back to the apartment, I dropped the last of Ron’s ashes that I’d brought with me into the lake in the center of Reykjavik, which we’d passed many times.  The rest were put into the bay a few days before.  Unfortunately, Icelandic law requires that all human remains be interred (although it’s permissible to cremate and then inter the ashes).  I’d heard this from the guide on the Haunted Reykjavik walk so I was very discreet about it.

The weather had cleared somewhat in the afternoon so I headed for the pool one last time and went swimming before settling in for the evening.  I needed to be up early and there was packing to be done.