A carved animal figurine believed to be a child’s toy has been unearthed at the Fjörður farm mound in Seyðisfjörður, eastern Iceland. The animal looks like a pig to me but archaeologists hypothesize it might also represent a wild boar, a bear or a dog. It was found in the floor layer of a 9th century Viking longhouse. The Fjörður farm site contains the remains of the first settlement of Norwegians in Iceland. Founded at the end of the 8th century or beginning of the 9th, the settlement encountered repeated mudslides and avalanches until it was buried under a major landslide in 1150. The thick soil layer protected the earliest settlement from later construction. Over five years of excavations, archaeologists have unearthed a weaving room, a barn and four pre-Christian graves as well as the longhouse. The dogbearpig was carved from palagonite tuff, a yellow volcanic stone, and is 5 cm (2 inches) long and 2.7 cm (1 inch) high. One ear has broken off, but the rest of it is intact and in good condition. It can still stand on its four feet. Here is a 3D scan of the affable fellow: The excavation of the floor layer this year has uncovered a wealth of more than 600 objects from the first settlers of Seyðisfjörður who built the longhouse. Some of the objects found are almost 100 pieces used in the game of Hnefatalf, spinning whorls, beads, crucibles and molds for metal casting, lamps, pots and one silver coin. The coin is still encrusted with soil and therefore unrecognizable, but will be examined and hopefully identified by coin experts after cleaning and conservation.