Eiríksstaðir

Eiríksstaðir is the former homestead of Eiríkr Þorvaldsson, known as Erik the Red, in Haukadalur in the Dalasýsla region of Iceland. It was the birthplace of his son Leifr Eiríksson, the first known European discoverer of the Americas. A site thought to be that of the original farm has been investigated by archaeologists and remains of two buildings dating to the 9th–10th centuries have been identified. An open-air museum has been established nearby.

According to Landnámabók and the Saga of Erik the Red, after first settling in Vestfyrðir, Eiríkr married Þjóðhildur Jǫrundardóttir and established the farm of Eiríksstaðir near the Vatnshorn in Haukadalur. His son Leifr was born there, but Eiríkr had to leave the area after killing two men in revenge for the deaths of two of his thralls.

A number of archaeological investigations have been carried out at what is thought to be the site of Eiríksstaðir (now on the land of Stóra-Vatnshorn farm). In 1894 Brynjúlfur Jónsson () made a plan of the visible signs of old buildings and they were excavated the following year by Þorsteinn Erlingsson. Daniel Bruun () made a further investigation in 1896. An excavation in 1938 by Matthías Þórðarson () uncovered a building of the longhouse type with a long central firepit. In 1997–2002, at the request of the Eiríksstaðanefnd (Eirísstaðir committee), Guðmundur Ólafsson conducted a further investigation for the National Museum of Iceland.

The main building was of a longhouse type, and was measured in the 1997 dig at approximately 50 square metres (540 sq ft) in area and 4 metres (13 ft) long. There was a central fire-pit; this and rows of stones indicate that people sat along the walls. In the initial investigation in 1895, Þorsteinn Erlingsson thought there had been an attached bake-house at the rear, but the 1997 dig confirmed Mattías Þórðarson's belief that the rocks there were from a natural landslide. The walls were turf set on a base of rocks, and were about 1–1.5 metres (3.3–4.9 ft) thick; stones in the south wall indicate that it had been repaired. The building was simple in construction and indications are that it had not been occupied for long. C-14 dating of charcoal from an undisturbed area of human habitation deposits in front of the ruins yielded a date of the 9th–10th century.

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