The main goal of the Hjaltadal Archaeological Settlement Project (HASP), funded by award # 2037737 (Understanding the Origins and Institutionalization of Social and Economic Hierarchies through Archaeological Settlement Survey) is to understand the founding and development of the bishopric at Hólar, chronicle the settlement sequence that preceded the diocese being placed there, and outline the effects on the surrounding farmsteads of the see’s establishment. 
     At first only a Viking Age farmstead, Hólar would become the most powerful site in medieval North Iceland during the Middle Ages.  The research seeks to determine if Hólar arose from the conditions created during the Viking Age settlement or if it arose as part of a fundamental social reorganization that saw the institutionalization of Christianity.  More broadly, the goals are to evaluate the degree to which the initial conditions of Iceland’s Viking Age colonization influenced later socio-economic development as the island underwent significant environmental and social change.  Specifically, the research seeks to determine if the settlement pattern that resulted from the 9th-century colonization of Iceland affected the future development of the religious and economic institutions that dominated the 14th century.
     The work is a joint project of Hólar University and UMass Boston.  The work is directed by Guðný Zoëga and John Steinberg.

REPORTS

Preliminary Report 2021: Coring and Excavations at Hof in Hjaltadalur. By Guðný Zoëga, Zachary N Guttman, & John M. Steinberg. Hólar University Research Report no. 2022/6

Preliminary Report 2021: Geophysics, Coring, and Excavations at Hólar; Geophysics at Kálfsstaðir.  By Guðný Zoëga and John M. Steinberg. Hólar University Research Report no. 2022/7

Preliminary Report 2022: Geophysics, Coring, and Excavations at Víðines, Hrafnhóll, Hvammur, Reykir, Neðri-Ás, Kálfsstaðir and Hrappstaðir, in Hjaltadalur.  By Guðný Zoëga and John M. Steinberg, Hólar University Research Report no. 2023/3