An Ancient Farm Site 1989

Directed by Páll Steingrímsson

Although the Icelandic Sagas contain many descriptions of stately homes, none of them stood the test of time. However, an archeological finding at Stöng in Thjórsárdal revealed the ruins of an ancient farm which had been preserved in ashes from the Mt. Hekla eruption in 1104. Knowledge from this finding and from literary sources were used to reconstruct in detail and Icelandic farmhouse from the 11th century. This film follows the project from the original designing stage in 1970 until the inauguration in 1977, showing the ancient techniques used to build houses from local building material such as turf, stone and wood.