Urbanization in Reykjavík: Post-Medieval Archaeofauna from the Downtown Area

Abstract Reykjavik, capital of Iceland, developed from a dispersed rural settlement to nucleated urban community during the last 250 years. Prior to the mid-18th century, Iceland was a rural society that lacked towns or even substantial villages, with seasonal market centers and elite manor farms managing economic activities for widely dispersed farms and seasonal fishing stations. This paper focuses on two downtown Reykjavik faunal collections as part of the urban development from the mid-17th century. The collections from Aðalstraeti 10 and Tjarnargata 3c reflect some of the changes associated with increasing population density and specialized production in a more densely populated area. Some of the finds data and history of the town are incorporated into this text as well as a brief comparison of all the post-medieval downtown Reykjavik collections with the archaeofauna from the 18th-century layers from the former southern bishop's estate at Skalholt and also with that of the fishing farm Finnbogastaðir...