Excavating the Sagas

It is almost impossible to spend time in Iceland without hearing something about our famous Sagas. Some of them are fantasy, but many of them are based on the lives and histories of the first Icelanders. Many of these take place in Western Iceland, but two of them start right here at Eiríksstaðir - the Saga of Eirík the Red, and the Saga of the Greenlanders. They tells us about the adventures that Eirík (who built the original farmhouse here at Eiríksstaðir) and his family had as they ventured westward, becoming the first Europeans to reach both Greenland and North America.

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Though the family left Eiríksstaðir behind early in their journey, the ruins of the farm they left behind has allowed us to learn a lot about the ways that they lived back in the 10th century CE. It is from this information that we were able to create the replica longhouse that you can visit today.