Westfjords settlement in Iceland may have begun around AD 870, much earlier than previously assumed, according to archaeological evidence from three barley grains found in the floor of an early settlement-era hall.
The grains were recovered at Auðkúla, in the remote Westfjords region of north-western Iceland, and dated at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom. Archaeologist Margrét Hrönn Hallmundsdóttir presented the findings at a Westfjords archaeology event in Súgandafjörður, as Icelandic public broadcaster RÚV reported in August 2026.
The dating challenges the view that people settled the Westfjords significantly later than other parts of Iceland. Instead, Auðkúla appears to have been inhabited around the period traditionally associated with the main wave of settlement on the island.
Why three barley grains matter for Westfjords settlement
The grains, each only a few millimetres long and more than 1,100 years old, were found through a process known as flotation. Soil from the hall floor was mixed with water, allowing tiny organic remains to rise to the surface.
Earlier attempts to date the hall using animal bones had suggested an unusually early occupation. But those samples could be distorted by the marine reservoir effect: carbon from marine food chains can make radiocarbon-dated remains appear older than they really are.
Barley offers a more reliable comparison because it grows on land and completes its life cycle in one year. The three grains therefore give researchers firmer evidence for activity at Auðkúla around 870, though they do not establish an exact founding year for the settlement.
What the excavations reveal about daily life
Other finds provide a picture of the inhabitants’ food. A well-preserved refuse deposit contained remains of sheep, pigs and cattle, alongside seals, whales, seabirds and large quantities of cod. The deposit’s position on a slope helped water drain away, protecting the material.
Hallmundsdóttir leads the research project Arnarfjörður in the Middle Ages, which examines the area’s early history. As Iceland Review also reported, she said the excavation of another hall at nearby Hrafnseyri could not continue in 2026 because the project had not secured funding.
That hall remains only partly excavated. Further work could add to the evidence about when settlement spread through the Westfjords and how the region’s earliest communities lived.
