ever since. Skaftafell and many other farms were soon re-established, but at that time the climate was also starting to cool down, making it increasingly difficult to live from farming. The frequent Grímsvötn eruptions triggered jökulhlaups which flooded over hayfields, covering them with ash and sand. In 1988, traditional farming was discontinued at Skaftafell. In earlier times, however, the farmers had supplemented sheep farming by trips to the coast, where they hunted seals and collected eggs. Stranded ships provided excellent material for making various items, and some of the Skaftafell farmers became well known for their crafting talents. In earlier centuries, the farmstead stood just below the slopes, where some of the ruins still remain visible at Gömlutún . Skeiðará river began flowing closer to the farm and destroyed the fields, until in the early 19th century when the farm was moved onto the mountain slopes and divided into three households. One of them, Sel , was abandoned in 1946 but has since been restored by the National Museum and made accessible for visitors. Landscape and geology The scenery around Skaftafell is full of stark contrasts. The various glacial tongues are flanked by jagged mountains, with the glacier-topped peak of Hvannadalshnjúkur rising highest. Evidence abounds of the erosive forces exerted by glacial ice and rivers. From the time of the first sagas, this ice has variously advanced or retreated, reaching farthest around 1890, since when it has retreated. The rivers running from it have flowed back and forth over the lowlands, depositing the material that forms the wide sands of Skeiðarársandur. Road No. 1 did not become a complete circle around the country until 1974, when the last of the rivers barring transportation, the Skeiðará, was finally bridged. Even so, in 2009 Skeiðará stopped flowing where it had been bridged, running instead westwards directly in front of the glacier to the river Gígjukvísl , so that the river under the long Skeiðará bridge to the east carries very little water compared to before. The bedrock geology of Skaftafell has been mapped in detail and a bedrock map of the area was published in 2007. It is available at the Skaftafell national park visitor center as well as in book stores in Reykjavik. A web site on the geology of Skaftafell (skaftafell.org) describes the varied rock types of the area. The oldest rocks in Skaftafell are about 5 million years old.