capped by layers from a medieval settlement on the same site. Because of the excavation
method, medieval artefacts were found mixed with those from the Viking Age.
The picture we see here is of interest and a good example of the settlement-historical
development in the Faroes. Investigations regarding the settlement history during
recent years have shown that the localisation of settlements in the Faroes has been fairly
stationary: if special circumstances did not cause your removal you stayed where you had
settled in the landnám (‘colonisation’) period. The settlement sites where the actual core
of the farm was found was a specially defined area called heimrúst. Usually this settlement
core was separated from the outlying infield by a stone fence and a geil, a stone-walled
cattle path, that connected the settlement core with the outfield (Arge 2005 ). Since the
excavations in Kvívík, Viking settlement remains have been mapped and investigated
around the islands both within the infields and in the outfields as well (Arge et al. 2005 ).
RECENT INVESTIGATIONS AND RESEARCHÁ Toftanesi, LeirvíkIt was not until the excavation of the site of Toftanes (Figure 42. 1. 1 ), during 1982 – 7 ,
that a Viking Age farm was unearthed, which presented a clearer picture of the layout of
a Viking farm as well as Viking everyday life, compared to the site in Kvívík. The farm
consisted of four buildings. The dwelling structure, a longhouse, was preserved in its
c. 20 m length and had an internal width of 5 m. The curved walls were 1 m thick, and
were made of an outer and an inner wall of dry-stones, interspersed with turf to give a
more windproof structure. In the middle of the western half of the building, a fireplace
Figure 42. 1. 1 The Viking farm at Toftanes, Leirvík. (Photo: S.S. Hansen.)–– Símun V. Arge––