time of the settlement. A lighted strip is also set into the wall at the level of the surface when the tephra layer fell. The hall was built on a gravel ridge between the sea and the Lake. Conditions meant that it was necessary to excavate the floor of the exhibition space down below the surface of the gravel ridge on which the hall stood. The idea of the gravel ridge is preserved by the floor being partly sea-washed shingle, and gently undulating. A working party of scholars was set up to discuss the content of the exhibition. Their discussions led to the basic policy that the exhibition should focus on the cultural relics and research on them, while the settlement myth would be briefly recounted before visitors entered the exhibition proper, and also in a computer-centre accessible to visitors. The distinction between historical sources and the archaeological excavation was to be clearly drawn. The content of the exhibition was to be presented in as diverse a manner as possible, placing emphasis on the entertainment value of the exhibition approach, without sacrificing too much scholarly rigour. The exhibits are, of course, the main point, but interpretations and explanations were to be presented in interactive multimedia form, combined with a variety of more conventional exhibition techniques. An exhibition is, by its nature, primarily a visual experience, but senses of hearing and smell can intensify and diversify the experience; hence experts in these fields of human perception were invited to participate. The exhibition 'The Settlement Exhibition Reykjavík 871±2' focuses on archaeological finds from the earliest period of habitation at Reykjavík, and scholarly research on them. A well-preserved Viking-Age hall was unearthed here, along with fragments of wall structures which are some of the oldest signs of human habitation in Iceland. These archaeological relics are important in themselves, but what made the find so remarkable, and led to the conservation and display of the site, is that the structures were found at the very place where, according to written sources, the first settler in Iceland made his home. These sources, Íslendingabók (the Book of Icelanders) and Landnámabók (the Book of Settlements), were written down in the 12th century, some time after the events they describe; there is a consensus among scholars that the Book of Icelanders is more reliable as a source on the settlement. Many of the Sagas of Icelanders, written down