Morgunblaðið describes today in a front page article the studies conducted by geo-scientists of a recent archaeological finding (see Iceland Review, Daily News, “Archaeologists discover 14th century farm”).
Volcano specialists Ármann Höskuldsson and Þorvaldur Þórðarsson believe that it was a hot cloud of ash, embers and gas that descended at high speeds from the volcano Öræfajökull in 1362 onto the surrounding farmland and laid it waste, killing several hundred people. Temperatures exceeded 100 degrees centigrade, and the cloud may moved have moved as fast as 200 km/hr according to Ármann and Þorvaldur.
When digging into a bank of a small creek in the vicinity of the farm that archaeologist Bjarni Einarsson and crew have been excavating, they came upon deposits that enabled them to trace the history of the 1362 eruption from beginning to end. They found evidence that three hot clouds had moved over the area during the course of the eruption.
