Archaeologists have unearthed what they think is the oldest Viking site in Iceland - a discovery that promises to rewrite the island's history.
The Viking longhouse - or large wooden hall - is believed to have been built in the 800s, decades before the feared seafarers settled in Iceland, reports Live Science.
It was hidden under a more recently constructed longhouse filled with treasures, said lead archaeologist Bjarni Einarsson.
Both longhouses were found at Stöð, near the village and fjord of Stöðvarfjörður in the east of Iceland.
"The younger hall is the richest in Iceland so far," Einarsson said. "It is hard not to conclude that it is a chieftain's house."
The 40 metre-long hall contained a prized hoard of ornamental beads, silver and ancient coins. They included Roman and Middle Eastern silver coins, and 'hacksilver' - bent pieces of silver used as currency by the Vikings.
Archaeologists think the older longhouse dates from the early 800s - long before the conventionally held date for Iceland's settlement by people of 874 AD.
Einarsson thinks it was a seasonal settlement or camp, occupied only during the northern hemisphere summer and maybe into the autumn.
Areas of the older building reveal it was one of the largest long houses ever found in Iceland.
"We know that the westernmost part of the older hall was a smithy [for working with metal] — the only smithy within a hall known in Iceland," Einarsson said.
He said the site follows a pattern of gradual expansion through the North Atlantic islands.
"First, we had the seasonal camps, and then the settlement followed."
