LANDNAM - THE SETTLEMENT OF ICELAND IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL-PERSPECTIVE

The Norse settlement of Iceland established a viable colony on one of the world's last major uninhabited land masses. The vast corpus of ind igenous Icelandic traditions about the country's settlement makes it t empting to view this as one of the best case studies of island coloniz ation by a pre-state society. Archaeological research in some ways sup ports, but in other ways refutes the historical model. Comparison of a rchaeological data and historical sources provides insights into the p rocess of island colonization and the role of the settlement process i n the formation of a culture's identity and ideology.