Curriculum vitae
ORRI VÉSTEINSSON, BA, MA, PhD
Born December 22 1967
Affiliation
University of Iceland, Sæmundargötu 2, 101 Reykjavík, ICELAND, email: orri@hi.is
Institute of Archaeology, Iceland, Bárugötu 3, 101 Reykjavík, ICELAND, email:
orri@instarch.is
Education
Ph.D. in History, University of London, 1996. Dissertation: The Christianisation of Iceland.
Priests, Power and Social Change 1000-1300. Supervisor: Wendy Davies
M.A. in Field and Analytical Techniques in Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology,
University of London, 1991.
B.A. in History, University of Iceland, 1990.
Diploma in Early-Irish language and literature, University of Ireland, 1988.
Current positions
Professor in Archaeology, University of Iceland, from 2010
Adjunct member, Doctoral Faculty, Graduate School, City University New York, from 2000
Member of the Board, Institute of Archaeology, Iceland, from 1995
Previous employment
Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, University of Iceland 2007-2010
Lecturer in Archaeology, University of Iceland 2002-2007
Head of Research and Training, Institute of Archaeology, Iceland, 1995-2002
Principal research projects - ongoing
Human colonisation (book project)
Director: National survey of medieval chapel and church sites in Iceland, 2003Director: Excavations of late-medieval trading post at Gásir, 2001-2006 (Post-ex)
Director: Excavations at Sveigakot in Mývatnssveit 1999-2006 (Post-ex)
PI: Landscapes of Settlement, 2000PI: Human and Social Dynamics in Myvatnssveit, Iceland, from the Settlement to the
Present, 2008-10
Principal research projects - completed
Co-director: Excavations of a Viking age settlement in Reykjavík, 2000-2003
PI: Vestnordisk byggeskikk i vikingtid og middelalder, 2000-2002
Director: Excavation of medieval church at Neðri Ás in Skagafjörður, 1998-1999
PI: Land use and territorial division in medieval Iceland, 1996-1999
Director: National survey of archaeological sites in Iceland, 1994-2002
Co-director: Excavations of settlement farm at Hofstaðir in Mývatnssveit, 1991-2002
Co-director: Court-circles in Iceland, 1990-91
Current Graduate Students
Hildur Gestsdóttir, Rúnar Leifsson, Nikola Trbojevic, Oddgeir Hansson, Howell M. Roberts,
Guðmundur Ólafsson, Astrid Daxböck, Stefán Ólafsson, Lilja Pálsdóttir
Selection of recent English language publications
Orri Vésteinsson (2010): ‘Ethnicity and class in settlement period Iceland.’ The Viking Age:
Ireland and the West. Papers from the Proceedings of the Fifteenth Viking Congress,
Cork, 18-27 August 2005, eds. John Sheehan & Donnachadh Ó Corráin, Dublin: Four
Courts Press, 494-510.
Orri Vésteinsson (2009): ‘A medieval merchants’ church in Gásir, North Iceland.’ hikuin 36,
159-70.
Adderley, Paul W., Simpson, Ian A. & Orri Vésteinsson (2008): ‘Local-scale adaptations:
A modeled assessment of soil, landscape, microclimatic, and management factors in
Norse home-field productivities.’ Geoarchaeology. An International Journal 23/4,
500-527.
Orri Vésteinsson (2007): ‘A divided society. Peasants and the aristocracy in medieval
Iceland.’ Viking and medieval Scandinavia 3, 117-39.
Thomas H. McGovern, Orri Vésteinsson, Adolf Friðriksson, Mike Church, Ian Lawson, Ian
A. Simpson, Árni Einarsson, Andy Dugmore, Gordon Cook, Sophia Perdikaris, Kevin
J.Edwards, Amanda M. Thomson, W. Paul Adderley, Anthony Newton, Gavin Lucas,
Ragnar Edvardsson, Oscar Aldred & Elaine Dunbar (2007): ‘Landscapes of
Settlement in Northern Iceland: Historical Ecology of Human Impact & Climate
Fluctuation on the Millennial Scale.’ American Anthropologist 109, 27-51.
Orri Vésteinsson (2006): ‘Central areas in Iceland.’ ed. Jette Arneborg & Bjarne Grønnow:
Dynamics of Northern Societies. Proceedings of the SILA/NABO conference on Arctic
and North Atlantic Archaeology, Copenhagen, May 10th-14th, 2004, (Publications of
the National Museum. Studies in archaeology and history 10), Copenhagen, 307-322.
Orri Vésteinsson (2005): ‘Archaeology of Economy and Society.’ ed. Rory McTurk: A
Companion to Old-Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture, Blackwell, London, 7-26.
Orri Vésteinsson (2005): ‘The formative phase of the Icelandic Church c. 990-1240 AD.’
ed. Helgi Þorláksson: Church centres. Church centres in Iceland from the 11th to the
13th century and their parallels in other countries, Reykjavík, 71-81.
Orri Vésteinsson (2004): ‘Icelandic farmhouse excavations. Field methods and site choices.’
Archaeologia islandica 3, 71-100.
Orri Vésteinsson & Ian A. Simpson (2004): ‘Fuel utilisation in pre-industrial Iceland.
A micro-morphological and historical analysis.’ ed. Garðar Guðmundsson: Current
Issues in Nordic Archaeology. Proceedings of the 21st Conference of Nordic
Archaeologists, September 6th-9th 2001, Akureyri, Reykjavík, 181-87.
Adolf Friðriksson, Orri Vésteinsson & Thomas H. McGovern (2004): ‘Recent
Investigations at Hofstaðir, northern Iceland.’ ed. R.A. Housley & G. Coles: Atlantic
Connections and Adaptations: Economies, environments and subsistence in lands
bordering the North Atlantic, Oxbow Books, Oxford, 191-202.
Ian A. Simpson, Orri Vésteinsson, W. Paul Adderley & Thomas H. McGovern (2003): ‘Fuel
resource utlisation in landscapes of settlement.’ Journal of Archaeological Science
30, 1401-1420.
Adolf Friðriksson & Orri Vésteinsson (2003): ‘Creating a Past. A Historiography of the
Settlement of Iceland.’ ed. James Barrett: Contact, Continuity and Collapse: The
Norse colonization of the North Atlantic., (Studies in the Early Middle Ages 5),
Turnhout, 139-61.
Orri Vésteinsson, Thomas H. McGovern & Christian Keller (2002): ‘Enduring
Impacts: Social and Environmental Aspects of Viking Age Settlement in Iceland and
Greenland.’ Archaeologia islandica 2, 98-136.
Ian A. Simpson, Andrew J. Dugmore & Amanda Thomson & Orri Vésteinsson
(2001): ‘Crossing the thresholds: human ecology and historical patterns of landscape
Degradation.’ Catena 42, 175-192.
Orri Vésteinsson (2001): ‘The Conversion of the Icelanders.’ ed. Przemyslaw Urbańczyk:
Europe around the year 1000, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsawa 2001, 325-42.
Orri Vésteinsson (2000): ‘The archaeology of landnám. Early Settlement in Iceland.’
ed. William W. Fitzhugh & Elisabeth Ward: Vikings. The North Atlantic Saga,
Smithsonian Inst. Press, Washington, 164-174.
Orri Vésteinsson (2000): The Christianization of Iceland. Priests, Power and Social
Change 1000-1300, Oxford University Press, Oxford.