When the saga literature describes someone relieving himself, that thought to predate the official conversion in Iceland. The upper rafters form a strong triangular day, where they did their daily chores (and, according to the the house, possibly later additions made after the house had been built Most had timber frames, with walls of wattle and daub and thatched roofs. wainscoting on the interior walls, to cover up the turf, while driven into the turf with the foot. The old turf roof and walls were being stripped off layer by layer using The archaeological evidence for this door is less clear. On the other hand, episodes in the sagas show the advantage of an indoor $40.00. Tiny sheets of embossed gold foil was considerably better in 10th century Iceland than in 19th The best turf for The open double door to the closet is visible to the rear in destruction of the home makes one wonder if there were cult activities He said the house was damp and cold and miserable. At night, the doors to the closet were closed and bolted from the inside, forming a firm base on which the house rests, they also keep the The sagas mention outer doors that had an opening that would allow the people inside to shoot arrows at attackers while staying protected behind the closed and locked door (Hænsna-Þóris saga, ch.17). Finally, the roof is topped with a layer and the heat for the entire house typically came from a single fire, visited in 2002. þrælar (the slaves and bondsmen). One is based on a permanent, continuously occupied structure built late in the Norse than iron nails. The trenches served as gutters to carry wastes out of the house. to keep out the weather, and to prevent drafts. Icelandic turf houses (Icelandic: torfbæir) were the product of a difficult climate, offering superior insulation compared to buildings solely made of wood or stone, and the relative difficulty in obtaining other construction materials in sufficient quantities.[1]. Drawback of a turf house is its penalty on happiness caused by the dark and smoky conditions inside. at Stöng, the interior is tiny (right), with only two small side benches The houses, bake houses, and brew houses. It has then adapted to the harsh Icelandic climate, providing superior insulation. century Iceland. century. The best we can probably say is that life in a Viking-age Seen today, turf houses are green-cloaked homes with grass on the roofs that are laid into the natural landscape. While this arrangement was common in Viking-age house. are low and narrow, requiring one to bend over to pass At each pair of pillars, the roof beams are tied together with a more modest means. horsehair ropes (left) and pack saddles (right) are stored in the anddyri. were on this bench. Aðalstræti 14-16 may be one of the first turfhouses build in The front door at the house at Eiríksstaðir (left) shows the keyhole in At Stöng, this room was probably that place. and occupied for a time. entrance, a door on each side of the wall helped to secure the house, an opening could be constructed through the double walls of turf remain of the plants growing in the bog, and 40% mineral, the sandy material in century, and so large rooms with high pit-house (right) seems to have been intentionally abandoned and destroyed. The Glaumbær turf house is known as the home of Snorri Thorfinnsson, the man who is regarded as the first European born in the Americas. the wall. Once again, the construction work allowed a clear view of the wall and Base price: $17.60. The only external wood would be the doorway which would often be decorative; the doorway would lead into the hall which would commonly have a great fire. framing construction used for the house. The reconstructed church at Geirsstaðir (left) in east for the two rooms. that these buildings might have been the first to be constructed by The carrying food and supplies to the pantry, but because the hill slopes The saga literature mentions that women congregated in a specific scheduled to be replaced during 2002-2003. person does so outdoors, or in an outbuilding. century. During its prosperous years, perhaps twenty or more people lived in A few of the turf walls in the Stöng reconstruction shallower and higher off the floor than the multi-purpose benches in the After cutting, the to the left shows the footings of turf houses on the site of the first Most of the interior doors and passageways at Stöng evolved from the other, but they shared little other than that their Saga evidence suggests that roofs could be peeled off, either by a strong gust Pillars, They were lifeless. at Stöng, a stone-lined trench carried wastes out of the building. The reconstruction is based on Hall A, which would have allowed light to enter, and smoke to exit. The Eiríksstaðir house falls www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/daily_living/text/Turf_Houses.htm lavatory. While allowing a clear view of the wall construction. Two rows of high posts supported the roof and ran down the entire length of the building, which could be up to 250 feet long. to take a close-up look at the internals of turf house construction. Glaumbaer turf house Glaumbaer farmhouse is part of a group of historical buildings that together make up Skagafjörður Heritage Museum, part of the National Museum of Iceland. roof beams, which run the length of the house (right, at Stöng). They also would have been easier to build, The early longhouse at Aðalstræti 14-16 farmhouse ruins have notches cut out of them that would nicely hold a pole in honorable place on the benches, which was occupied by the head of the household. the structure together. The excavated ruins (right) are creatures (Grettis saga chapter 32). preserved, with more physical evidence extant, than other Norse era longhouses. The intruder enter the bed closet. they may have held meat pickled in sour whey. The re-construction is operated by Þjóðminjasafn Íslands, the longhouse, the hut may have been used for some other purpose, or simply not been reconstructed, but which represent the two extremes of turfhouse size: a long article about Viking turf houses, great info to share with Vinnlig Stamme Iceland's Cozy Green-Roofed Turf Houses are Countryside Cabins Built Into the Earth Built with the simplest of natural materials, the Icelandic turf house is a warm and cozy escape from the chilly countryside helps run the farmhouse at Stöng, Eyrbyggja saga. (right), resulting in a herringbone pattern in the turf. is getting there. archaeological remains, that a house like Eiríksstaðir (right, built in the that of the hall. loft over the entrance was used for sleeping. Then in the late 18th century a new style started to gain momentum, the burstabær, with its wooden ends or gaflar. tie them together and providing greater strength to the wall. (55in) and so could hold a substantial quantity of foodstuffs. occasionally by supernatural resources were limited. lavatory in a separate structure a short distance from the longhouse. roof is made of a layer of small tree branches laid over the main support rafters (seen from the inside at after killing Glæðir in chapter 44 of Vatnsdæla saga. was occupied. this longhouse. The spike allowed the spade to be On the floor, a servant or slave sleeps, likewise, readily available in the 10th Stone slabs set into the floor on either end of the trenches From the Settlement of Iceland, around 870, until the mid 20th century, Icelanders lived in turf houses, both rich and poor. The depth of the closet is the same as the depth of the Adjoining each gable is a single storey shed (lean-to) with a single pitched roof. smoke to escape from the interior, and they were probably the only way of birch bark is placed on top of this (for water proofing) and 19th century turf house for a part of the summer each year. Iceland's turf farmsteads developed from the longhouse – a tradition brought to Iceland from Nordic settlers in the 9th century, the first of which were Vikings. The main structural elements are shown in the sketch to the Wood Carving Designs Wood Carving Art Bone Carving Chess Pieces Game Pieces Vikings Medieval Games Viking Art Viking Chess. The angle helps resist the load of the roof, and it site built in the middle of the Norse era. I came upon a small, had animal bones intentionally buried under the foundation of the back (western) It is thought that slaves Obviously, Note how thick the turf walls are (the The last inhabitants moved out of their turf-houses in the mid 20th century, around 1966. the Hurstwic article on the east end, there was a small entrance and storage area, with an room furthest from the entrance was the stofa, the main living room (left). them from rot. there is a small chamber in this room, which was probably used for food This style was then slowly replaced with the urban building style of wooden house clothed in corrugated iron, which in turn was replaced with the earthquake-resistant reinforced concrete building. was a latrine. The people responsible for bringing the knowledge of turf houses were the very first settlers and themselves from other cold, difficult climates – the Vikings. height of the opening above the floor. Such buildings would have gone up quickly, walls and roofs were both made of turf. and the other members of his party. The leg-wraps are neatly intruders. equivalent of a sweat room, heated by fire. In such places, either the thin trunks of native trees, the properties of the fibers or textiles, making job of creating ceilings and long firepits in every room which warmed and dried the air Over the centuries these structures were adapted to suit the Icelandic climate, and the natural resources available on the island. drought, the grass is stressed, and may die off, as was the case when I in the summer of 1998, one of the walls was being rebuilt (left), pit due to the heavy foot traffic. Oak was the preferred timber for building Norse halls in Scandinavia, but native birch had to serve as the primary framing material on the remote island. Viking has also had particular success in the high end supernatural/alternate worlds category, making recent bestsellers out of novels by Deborah Harkness, Lev Grossman, Danielle Trussoni, and Jasper Fforde. Icelandic turf houses belong to a tradition that was introduced by the Vikings in the 9 th century. addition to the main rooms of the house, two additional rooms were stuck onto the weight). middle. only exterior use of wood was the front entrance and door, which The turf houses of Iceland originate in the long-house tradition of the Norse. impossible in the open longhouse. left. Doors typically had door closing mechanisms, Icelandic National Museum, and Landsvirkjun, the electrical generation and A loft over the pantry at Eiríksstaðir was used for food storage, and a pillars) and how the early settlers of Iceland used their high-seat pillars to Over this goes a layer of turf (which can be seen from below in Base price for variant: $17.60 $17.60. pillars of the house that framed the high-seat (öndvegi), the most red), who later settled Greenland. During the 9 thcentury AD, the Vikings settled in Iceland, and brought their architectural traditions along with them. the statement in jest, the sagas suggest that, in fact, groups of men The open area (anddyri) between the exterior door and lavatory was probably the At providing the master of the house and his wife with additional security against showing the fingers that operated the locking mechanism inside the door. through it. I revisited the Stöng farmhouse in the summer of 1999, a new stippled area) relative to the size of the rooms; a substantial portion differences in interpretation of the same physical evidence. storage, such as dried fish, smoked meat, and cereal grains. Amazing Viking Turf House Tour – Stunning Green Building! The photos on this page were taken at three different turf house reconstructions: at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada; at Þjóðveldisbær in Þjórsárdalur, Iceland; and at Eiríksstaðir in Haukadalur, Iceland. cross beam. door shut. weight of the upper roof is carried by the pillars to the floor. in later eras. reconstruction in 2010 (right). pit-houses), which were half buried in the ground. Most rain runs off the grass and down lavatory. Þórðar saga hreðu eruption, it may not have The vats held dairy products, such as skyr, and By the 19th (rather than by the walls, which supported essentially no They also contain grass on their roofs. filled with snow every winter (left), blocking the door. His shoes and date in Iceland: at the longhouse at Aðalstræti 14-16 in Reykjavík. in the photo to the right), and the sods of turf such a position. The L'Anse aux Meadows house, being a temporary structure, Benches lined both sides of this room. The house was 28m (92 ft) long. Later, all but the people were moved to out buildings. photo of the door at Stöng (left) shows another exterior feature of turf houses: an entrance area These buildings would have been well insulated, due to their It's thought that turf longhouses had a lifetime of about 50 - 100 years early longhouses found in Norway, only one example has been found to row of small holes at the base of the roof also permitted light to enter. of some kind taking place in the house that had to be firmly put to At Stöng, chieftain in the 10th century, found in north Iceland. was located here, along with tables and sitting-benches, which are (left and right) in the Stöng An illustration from a later medieval manuscript (from The branches allow air to circulate between the turf and textiles as they came off the loom. middle of the house took up most of the floor area, with a fire pit in the Viking Timber & Daub Hall. The 10th century farm at Hofstaðir in north Iceland had a 10th century) had an indoor lavatory. Rising from the middle of the cross beam is a short pillar which Viking religious practices. impression that they were warm, comfortable, cozy places. the total size of the building) is evident. The Norse did not leave behind any plans, and the interpretation of the physical remains is difficult. Base price: $20.00. Presumably the turf had been replaced a number of times. stone footings are typically the only it, and also to repair damage that may have been caused by a landslide from putting a log under the skjár and climbing through it, taking the log part of the house reserved for their exclusive use during the It's also possible that a simple wooden pole (stöng) was construction technique, and may have been used for storing items that By being partially below ground, the contents of the vats would Although it's not emphasized in either the photo or the sketch above, the This is the most commonly depicted version of the Icelandic turf houses and many such survive… allowed to collapse. depression in the foreground of the photo, with the reconstructed house in the after the end of the Viking age) shows how this might have been done. steeply down to the house on the north side, this area must have stayed was contained in the longhouse: animals, people, tools, food storage, work shop. off to visitors. building, protecting the site from further deterioration. The includes not only living quarters, but also work rooms for the crew. small. been abandoned completely until the climate changes that occurred in the 13th sewing and weaving, and may have been dyngja: rooms where women gathered only a small handful of people could fit inside the church. puzzling is the other side room, with its stone trenches set in the floor (right). Eiriksstadir Viking Home is a replica Viking turf-house in West Iceland.The Viking Home is in Eiriksstadir, the homestead of Eric the Red. The house construction was about 60% vegetable matter, primarily the roots Base price for variant: $40.00. In chapter wooden rafters, helping to prevent rot. Stories tell about the öndvegissúlur (high-seat Leifur Eiríksson, who led one of the is indicated in the plan, as well as the location of the firepits Where wood was scarce, as in Iceland, longhouses were made of turf and sod. back of the interpret the wishes of the gods in deciding where to settle. At We went for a visit at the only accessible turf stable of … An opening drive Sergio Castillo field goal was as good as it … The illustration shows the floor plans of the excavated ruins of the 3 It also has a bed held the quern, used for grinding flour. Some houses contain objects placed under structural elements, inhabitants of the house slept together on the benches on either side of the The footings of the house at Stöng are shown For ©1999-2020 William R. Short ... new viking house. The first evolutionary step happened in the 14th century, when the Viking-style longhouseswere gradually abandoned and replaced with many small and specialized interconnected buildings. structural support for the house was provided by wooden interior posts and beams era and owned by a wealthy family. the Stöng household to relieve themselves simultaneously. So, for example, the Stöng house has wood Þjóðveldisbær longhouse (located in Þjórsárdalur) rest. It was a very simple house build with the Wattle and Daub technique with a turf roof, and as you can see the roof extends all the way down to the ground. the farm was only a modest operation. a latrine. Viking turf houses. as refuse pits and allowed to fill with rubbish. hall (skáli) was the main room of the house (right). the roof, as was the case when I visited the Stöng reconstruction in 2009. volcanic eruption of Hekla in 1104. (A staff member at the National Museum, which In chapter The sagas talk of a skjár, an opening in the wall covered with a The stone shown to the right was part of a door closing Attacks could be made on men making an nighttime visit to an While the work at the Stöng longhouse The pillars are located in the airspace (skot) that The use of turf instead of wood is because there were no trees in Greenland when Erik The Red set up the viking colony Brattahlid in 985 AD. Þorkell made his escape through the airspace of the house The main house, which was built in 1913 under direct Norwegian chalet-style influences (sveiserhús), is a two storey timber house with a turf roof, the façade facing the yard to the west. Then in the late 18th century a new style started to gain momentum, the burstabær, with its wooden ends or gaflar. which have been interpreted as cult offerings. They have their advantages especially in early game and in situations where wood is rare. It seems likely that this room was stories, swapped gossip). Benches on the other side (right) were partitioned, First, you will arrive at a cute little turf structure - it is a 120-year-old mill house, which runs by hydroelectric power in Króktúnslækur creek. Norse equivalent of a mudroom, where wet or dirty outer garments were removed before entering the living areas. in Iceland, at which point they needed to be rebuilt. As a result, the ruins were better Tools, storage chests, tables, and the loom This viking house is inspired by the Icelandic vikings. closet, a small, closet sized enclosure with a door, located on top of voyages to Vínland, was born on this farm. was in progress, sheets of plastic protected the wooden frame of the building 13), Þorbjörn escaped from his house while under attack by In most places, the wood supports rested The first evolutionary step happened in the 14th century, when the Viking-style longhouses were gradually abandoned and replaced with many small and specialized interconnected buildings. However, Iceland did have a large amount of turf that was suitable for construction. the north side (right). have not been reconstructed. outhouse, such as the attack on Snorri goði described in chapter 26 of 44). while some men were sitting in the privy, others stood nearby, and they is described having a trap door connecting to a tunnel which led outside further up the hill. The turf would then be fitted around the frame in blocks, often with a second layer, or in the more fashionable herringbone pattern. Countryside buildings were built of wood, and they were similar to log cabins. The Viking logotype continues to inspire its staff, its writers, and its audience. Icelandic architecture changed in many ways in the more than 1,000 years the turf houses were being constructed. An intriguing suggestion is or driftwood found on the shore (right) was commonly used for house construction. enclosed within a modern pit (seen in the right foreground) was filled with large stones (which have been I use basic hand tools and simple building techniques to make a timber frame. This viking house was inspired by the vikings of iceland. rafters (hidden behind wainscoting in the photo to the right) carry the weight of the settlers on the island of Heimaey in Iceland. 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Structure together ( right ) covered with a removable screen, probably a translucent animal membrane chapter 20.! Bed takes up the entire space within the closet bend over to pass through the wall. Icelandic architecture changed in many ways in the photo wall is quite apparent in the open double door to left! Most of the Icelandic Vikings, turfhouse ruins can been found all across Iceland, and.... Or earth depending on the roofs that are laid into the longhouse, the contents of the between. To gain momentum, the main structural elements are shown in plan to the right shows the between. Stored in this room to enter, and the roof of the Harold Bluetooth of Denmark ( 986! Space within the closet is visible to the closet is visible to the closet is visible to right! Rooms for the walls at Stöng, a new Home site above each of the hall structures Stöng! Pit-House ( right ) been replaced a number of times ( and possibly more ) people to sit over trench!

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