Ólafía Einarsdóttir (28 July 1924 – 19 December 2017) was an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic archaeologist and historian, specialising in Icelandic chronology. She was the first Icelander to complete a degree in

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

. After completing her PhD from Lund University in 1964, she taught at the University of Copenhagen and published many works about

Icelandic sagas The sagas of Icelanders (, ), also known as family sagas, are a subgenre, or text group, of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives primarily based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early elev ...

and

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

history.

Early life

Ólafía was born in Hafnafjördur, a suburb of

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

, on 28 July 1924. Her parents were Einar Þorkelsson, Secretary General of the

Althing The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme Parliament, national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ('Thing (assembly), thing ...

, and Ólafía Guðmundsdóttir. One of six children, her mother died in childbirth when Ólafía was five; soon after her father became blind. She was then adopted by some friends of her mother's and raised by them. She was educated at Reykjavik High School and graduated from there in 1944.

Career

Ólafía moved to London and began a degree in archaeology at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, studying under V. Gordon Childe. She graduated in 1948 and became the first Icelandic person to earn a degree in archaeology. After graduation she returned to Iceland and worked at the National Museum of Iceland, excavating pagan remains at the town of Brennistaði ( is) in Eiðaþinghá (i s). She then moved to Sweden to study for a MA in medieval history at

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

, which she graduated from in 1951. She returned to work at National Museum of Iceland as a curator, but later resigned in protest at the conservative reforms the institution was making. Ólafía began her doctoral research at the Lund University where she examined Icelandic sagas as historical texts. She completed her

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1964. In 1963 she began work as an assistant professor at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

and held the position until her retirement.

Research

Ólafía's research was concerned with the chronology and temporal structure of Icelandic saga literature. She recognised three different dating systems used by Ari in the

Íslendingabók (, , ; ) is a historical work dealing with early history of Iceland, Icelandic history. The author was an Icelandic priest, Ari Þorgilsson, working in the early 12th century. The work originally existed in two different versions but only the y ...

. She was also a proponent for an earlier timing for the conversion to Christianity in Iceland. Her research also encompassed the use of Latin by Icelandic writers, the cult of

Guðmundr Arason Guðmundr (Old Norse: , sometimes anglicised as Godmund) was a semi-legendary Norse king in Jotunheim, ruling over a land called ''Glæsisvellir'', which was known as the warrior's paradise.Otto Höfler, ''Kultische Geheimbünde der Germanen'', v ...

, Archbishop

Absalon Absalon (21 March 1201) was a Danish statesman and prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the bishop of Roskilde from 1158 to 1192 and archbishop of Lund from 1178 until his death. He was the foremost politician and church father of De ...

, and many other subjects, including the role of women.

Honours

Ólafía was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Faculty of History and Philosophy at the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern co ...

in 2009.

Legacy

The journal ''Ólafía'', published by the Icelandic Association of Archaeologists since 2013, is named after her.

Personal life

Ólafía was married to

Bent Fuglede Bent Fuglede (8 October 1925 – 7 December 2023) was a Danish mathematician. Early life and career Fuglede was known for his contributions to mathematical analysis, in particular functional analysis, where he proved Fuglede's theorem and sta ...

, a mathematician, who she met whilst on a trip to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, Denmark. Their son, Einar, was born in 1966. Ólafía died in Copenhagen on 19 December 2017.

References

External links

Ólafía Einarsdóttir: A pioneer in archaeology
(in Icelandic) {{DEFAULTSORT:Einarsdottir, Olafia Olafia Einarsdottir Olafia Einarsdottir Olafia Einarsdottir Lund University alumni Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen Olafia Einarsdottir 1924 births 2017 deaths Icelandic expatriates in Sweden Icelandic expatriates in Denmark