An archeological find in Hafnir on the Reykjanes peninsula (close to Keflavík Airport) may indicate that some men had started to come to Iceland before the year 874 AD, the year that has traditionally been considered the first year Nordic men came to Iceland to stay.
Archeologist dr. Bjarni F. Einarsson says that research at Hafnir indicate ruins of a cabin (Icelandic: Skáli) built well before the traditional year of origin of settlement.
“Usually when we find a cabin in Iceland we assume it is an ordinary farm, but then you should find outhouses as well. A thorough search by various means no other houses are found near the cabin and that makes one wonder what type of house it may have been.” Einarsson adds in an interview with Fréttabladid that C14 analysis indicates that the cabin was deserted between the years 770 to 880 AD, which seems to indicate that it was built “well before the ‘historical first settlement” in the year 874.
Einarsson says that his working theory is that it was an outpost from Northern Europe, Scandinavia or the British isles. Those men came to utilize the resources in Iceland: Birds, eggs, fish, whales and not least walrus teeth.