eleventh century at least (Krogh 1975 , 1983 ). When the churchyard in the 1970 s was
extended towards the south remains of Viking Age activities were revealed throughout
this large c. 3 , 000 m^2 area. In 1989 eleven graves were uncovered in this area, of which
seven were excavated (Arge and Hartmann 1992 ). Prior to this the only Viking burial
site had been the one in Tjørnuvík unearthed in 1956 (Dahl and Rasmussen 1956 ). It
can be dated to the tenth century both archaeologically as well as by^14 C (Arge 2001 ).
The burial site in Sandur gives the impression of having been well regulated: it consists
of a series of burials placed end to end in a number of more or less parallel rows. All of
the graves are aligned east–west and all of the uncovered skeletons lay with their skulls
pointing west.
The state of preservation of the skeletal material was fairly poor. However, teeth or
rather dental enamel was found preserved in all seven of the excavated graves. The
objects recovered from the graves can be classified as personal belongings, for example
finger-rings of silver and bronze, pearls of bone, glass and amber and iron knives. Two of
Figure 42. 1. 2 Sandur, Sandoy. The site of Junkarinsfløttur is central in the photo – in the fields north
of the church. (Photo: S.V. Arge.)–– chapter 42 ( 1 ): The Faroe Islands––