TY - JOUR AU - Zoega, Guðný PY - 2019/05/02 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - 8. The Old and The Young in Early Medieval Iceland: The Evidence for Three-generational Families in the Household Cemeteries of Skagafjorður, Northern Iceland JF - AmS-Skrifter JA - AmS-Skrifter VL - IS - 26 SE - Articles DO - 10.31265/ams-skrifter.v0i26.213 UR - https://journals.uis.no/index.php/AmS-Skrifter/article/view/213 SP - 105-118 AB - <p>In recent years, a number of early Christian cemeteries have been excavated in the region of Skagafjörður, North Iceland. They&nbsp;belonged to, and were managed by, occupants of individual farms and were in use from around AD 1000-1120. These household&nbsp;cemeteries differ from the sparse pagan burial record in that they are ‘all inclusive’, i.e. they include individuals of both sexes and&nbsp;all ages, and essentially represent all inhabitants of a household. An interesting feature of the cemeteries is the large number of&nbsp;interred infants and relatively large number of ‘older’ individuals. By looking at the osteological data in conjunction with the&nbsp;placement of burials within cemeteries a more detailed picture of the Medieval household emerges, including the perception of&nbsp;the young and the aged and the possible role of three-generation families in the transference of knowledge and life experience.&nbsp;This paper discusses how this unique material can add to the predominantly philological and historical discussions on the nature,&nbsp;composition and social interactions of the Medieval Icelandic household.</p> ER -