The Settlement Exhibition

In 2001 builders in Reykjavík's old town uncovered a wall of turf and stone: a Viking longhouse, left exactly where it stood and roofed over as a museum. Ash from an eruption in 871, give or take two years, lies under the wall, so the house went up soon after — the earliest trace of people on the spot that became the capital. Low-lit screens and finds from other digs nearby reconstruct the house and the settlers' daily life.