Þjórsárdalur Stöng að Gjánni.

Handrit á ensku
 Gamla bílastæðið á Gjánni.

Hekla
Halló. Welcome to Þjórsárdalur. My name is Hugi. I am going to take you on a tour around
Stöng and Gjáin. (benda á Stöng og síðan sýna leiðina á kortinu.)

More and more natural areas are being put under the protection as nature reserves by the
Icelandic environment agency, because of increasing tourism. Þjórsárdalur is one of those areas
that was recently put on that list in January 2020. The reason is because of its geological
uniqueness. In this area you can see many waterfalls like Hjálparfoss, Háifoss and Granni.
Important archaeological findings, and impressive landscapes like Gjáin.

(benda á Heklu) That snowy mountain is Hekla. One of the most famous volcanos in Iceland.
Hekla is very active and has had 23 recorded eruptions since the settlement in Iceland 874. The
first time it erupted after the settlers came was during the 12 th century. They believed it to be
the entrance to hell.

The volcano system that Hekla is a part of erupts regularly but also irregularly. Since the 12 th
century there have been 2-3 eruption every century, either from Hekla or some volcanos in the
same system. But the eruption in 1970 was a surprise to everyone because it had only been 23
years since the one in 1947, but people were really surprised when it erupted again 10 years
later in 1980 and again 1981 and then again 1991 and finally in 2000. Suddenly it had started to
erupt every 10 years. We are expecting it to erupt any day now, said the weatherman in 2009.

But all these eruptions since the 70´s were very short and most of them harmless to the
civilization. They each lasted roughly a week and longest was 52 days. Whereas in previous
centuries Hekla had often been very destructive and lasted for year or two. In the 12 th century
the whole area in Þjórsárdalur is said to have looked like this (Benda á gróðurinn sem blómstrar
í kring) but the lava from Hekla destroyed it all.

The most destructive ones were in 1300 and 1693. The 1300 one was very destructive and killed
many people and was a problem for farmers in the north. The ashfall was even more than the
one from Eyjafjallajökull in 2010. The one in 1693 killed a lot of fish and birds and infected a lot
of cattle, destroyed a lot of crops and the ash spread to Norway, UK and Scotland and all ships
on the Atlantic.

With all these eruptions has this become a deserted wasteland filled with many layers of lava.
But in this place is Gjáin, a diamond in the rough. With all its natural splendor, diverse plant life
and geological formations, makes it worth protecting.
 Fyrir utan Stöng, hjá kirkjunni?

Fornleifarannsóknir
Þjórsárdalur has been studied and excavated by archeologist for 150 years. The first researcher
was a man named Brynjúlfur Jónsson. He came here in 1858 as a teenager because he was
interested in the lost Icelandic saga about Gaukur Trandilsson. He found a piece of skull said to
be from Gaukur. 30 years later he published a paper about Þjórsárdalur, which included names
of locations, maps and drawings of ruins. So this paper marks the beginning of archaeological
research of desolate farms in Iceland.

And so, Þjórsárdalur was the first desolate farm to be researched and would go on to spark
interest in archaeology for many people. Daniel Bruun, a Danish archaeologist came here
looking for good examples of Icelandic farm ruins. He called Þjórsárdalur “The Pompeii of
Iceland.”

In 1939 there was an important excavation and there were found six ruins of other farms. This
was the most ambitious and extensive archaeological research that had been done in Iceland.
Two students that came along would both become important figures in Iceland. Kristján Eldjárn
became the director of the national museum of Iceland and later the third president of Iceland
but left that to continue his research. And Sigurður Þórarinsson who would lead the research on
using layers of lava as a way to determine the age of ruins. Which, today, is still one of the main
ways used by archaeologist today.

The research that has been done here from 19th century till 2000´s is still considered the most
important in the ´desolate ruins´ field. But many things have changed in how archaeologist do
this work. They are more careful, more patient, take more time and have today’s technology to
help with discovery.

(Benda á kirkjurústirnar og stöng) This farm is called Stöng. It was excavated in the year 1939
which was the most extensive excavation that has been done here and probably will ever be
done. The smaller ones that have been fenced around were used for cattle, but the other was
used as a church but under the church there were discoveries of a smalll smithy. The roof over
the ruins was put up in 1957 to protect it.

Inni í Stöng
 Stöng/þjóðveldisbærinn.
This farm is said to have been abandoned in the year 1104 after Hekla erupted. Archaeologist
argued weather the farm was abandoned in 1300 or 1104 but because of Sigurður Þórarinsson
they could determine by the layers of ash that it was indeed 1104.

After its excavation in 1939. Kristján Eldjárn who led the excavation, thought the ruins were so
clear, beautiful and distinct it would be a shame to cover them up again.

In the corner from the entrance was a closet where they might have kept dried foods like fish,
meat, and corn.

The room in front of the entrance was used as a bathroom. But due to the size of it they first
thought it was used to keep cows or wash them, but that theory went out the window. So, the
size was thought to be so many could wash or go to the toilet at the same time.

Here in the main hall, people worked. They sowed and hemmed and other stuff, but they
mainly slept here also. They had on top of the turf small wooden chambers with panels.

The section at the end was the sitting room or living room. This is where they come together to
eat, drink and be merry. They would sit by a fire and entertain each other.

The last corner here was used as a pantry and storage of most food. Mainly dairy product like
skyr. They had on the floor three giant barrels called casks. They were almost the size of a hot
tub.

These ruins have been partially reconstructed as you can see with the turf carpet on the walls
and the arrangement of the stones in the floor.

But in 1974 people in Iceland were coming up with all kinds of ways to celebrate the 1100
anniversary of the settlement of Iceland. The national history museum wanted to
commemorate the day buy reconstructing the entire farm, so they made a replica of the farm
and the church. This would become the Commonwealth farm which is six kilometers away from
here. The idea with the Commonwealth farm is to provide as reliable as possible of how the
chieftains (the upper class) lived in the commonwealth era. I recommend having a look there
later on if you haven’t already.

Gaukur Trandilsson
I talked about Gaukur Trandilsson earlier. In Möðruvallabók, (The main collection of sagas)
there is a blank space between the most famous Íslendingasagas Njáls saga and Egils saga,
there is a blank space with a headline that read “Let here be written the story of Gaukur
Trandilsson, I´m told sir Egill has it.” But it was never written down and is therefore lost. But
thanks to this line we know that there were definitely stories to be told about him.

What we do know about Gaukur is that he very well might have lived here in Stöng. He is
named in one of the other sagas and said to have been a mighty man and was killed by a man
named Ásgrímur on Gaukshöfði by Þjórsá. The only other mention of Gaukur in literature is
from a Danish dance-poem from the middle ages. In that small part of the poem, it says he lived
in Stöng and was having an affair with a neighbor lady. His existence is also supported by a rock
found in Scotland. On that rock was written in the immortal, modern words “Gaukur
Trandilsson was here”.

(meta eftir fjölda og getu hóps hvort ætti að fara að príla um með þau í Gjánni, annars stoppar gangan eftir nýja göngustíginn)

Gjáin

Útsýnispallur eða fyrir framan Gjárfoss

(meta eftir fjölda og getu hóps hvort ætti að fara að príla um með þau í Gjánni, annars stoppar gangan eftir nýja göngustíginn)

Gjáin is estimated to have been formed many thousands of years ago. The youngest layer of
lava around is Þjórsárdals hraun which is 3500-4000 years old. The waterfall there is called
Gjárfoss and runs from the river Rauðá. At some point in time the big river Þjórsá ran through
Gjáin which had a part in its formation.

Another layer of lava, Tungnárhraun ran a little bit into Gjánna. (benda á hraunið sem hangir og
lekur af brúninni) You can see that lava that flowed from the edge. Some of it ran to the
bottom.

Hvönn
This is Angelica. In Icelandic it is called Ætihvönn or just Hvönn. Hvönn is also a female name in
Iceland although it is very rare to meet one. Hvönn is very common in Iceland. Since the
settlement it has been used as a healing plant, its healing powers were well known among the
northern countries of europe. Dried Hvönn were sometimes used as currency in certain
cituations by vikings. There is a legend about Hvönn. In 1665 there was smallpox pandemic in
europe and a certain munk had a dream. In that dream an angel led him outside and showed
him a plant that would cure the illness. The munk named the plant Angelica archangelica after
the angel. Modern research shows Ætihvönn has germkilling effects and helps with digestion,
and gives you energy. It is common to make tea and spices. The list of effects goes on and on
and on.

Birki
The trees that are all around here is called Birki. There are two types of Birki that grow in
Iceland since the settlement era. This one is called ilmbjörk. Ilmbjörk is the only tree that forms
forests by itself in Iceland. It is estimated that a third of the country was covered in Birkitrees
when the settlers came.

Smjörgras.
This plant is called a Velvetbell, in Icelandic it is called Smjörgras or buttergrass.

Lyfjagras
This is common butterwort or Lyfjagras which means drug gras. The little leave like things at the
base of the stalk act as a trap for insects. In the past Lyfjagras was used to turn milk into Skyr.
Farmers had problems then when they couldn’t figure out why their cows had problems milking
or the milk was bad. They blamed supernatural reasons for the bad milking. But they discovered
it was because the cows had been eating Lyfjagras.

Stuðlaberg
The rocks that are around the waterfall are called Basalt columns or stuðlaberg. It looks like
that because basalt columns are created by the cooling and contracting of lava. When lava has
hardened at 1000°c degrees and starts to cool, it starts to shrink and split into this hexagon
form. Sometimes it has 4-8 corners.

Stuðlaberg is a very significant type of rock to Icelanders. Stuðlaberg inspired some of the
architecture in the national theater of Iceland and Hallgrímskirkja, the main church in Reykjavík.
Specifically the south and north wings of the church, the columns inside the church ship, even
the baptism fountain is made from a mix of stuðlaberg and other type of rocks. It is also shaped
like Stuðlaberg.
 Viltu fara í fræðslugöngu með landverði um Stöng og
Gjánna?
Hringdu í síma 822-4034
til að hafa samband við landvörð sem kemur með þér að
kostnaðarlausu.
Gangan er um 1 klukkutími og fer frá þessu skilti að Gjánni
Það er Fjallað um sögu manns og landslags í Þjórsárdal.
Allir velkomnir
_________________________________________________

Do you want to go on an educational walk with a ranger?

Call (+354) 822-4034
to contact a ranger that will take you free of charge.
The walk takes 1~ hour and goes from here to Gjáin.
The subject is the history of people and nature in
Þjórsárdalur
Everybody is welcome.