Vatnajökull National Park and the neighbouring areas have many and varied cultural remains and there are tales of human habitation and farming in the area, of the hardships, natural and supernatural forces with which the locals had to contend, and there is also the history of travels and other events that took place in the area over the centuries.

In Jökulsárgljúfur and the area to the south of the glacier there are sites of abandoned farms and many other remains connected with agriculture and fishery to the south of the glaciers. This area also has ancient travel routes between settlements, through difficult terrain, unbridged rivers and glaciers. The proximity of human habitation on the fringes of the National Park differs by areas and this difference is reflected in the culture and attitudes of the people with regard to the symbiotic connection between the land and the people and the good and bad effects that can result.

To the south of the glacier, human activity was influenced by the proximity of settlements to the glacier. There, people learned to live among bellowing glacial rivers and ever-changing creeping glaciers. To the north of the glacier the highlands the uninhabited area had an atmosphere of mystery and people were in fear of outlaws and many kinds of otherworldly creatures that might lurk there. Closer to human settlement, human interaction was influenced by the proximity to the river Jökulsá á Fjöllum, which could be a huge barrier to travellers and devastating to farming when it invaded fields and destroyed land.

In past centuries there were travel routes in the highlands to the west, north and east of the glacier, including Vatnajökulsvegur hinn forni (Old Vatnajökull road), Biskupaleið (Bishops' path) and Bárðargata (Bárður's road) and people also used to go across the eastern part of the glacier. There are remains of these routes in the form of cairns, aerial trams, fords and ferry points, and in many places there are also shepherd huts. Some of these have been converted to hiking lodges. At Herðubreiðarlindir and Hvannalindir there are remains that attest to outlaws having lived in the area. Various place names are connected to the history and folk tales of the area. Recording and mapping of the cultural remains in the area has been of varied quality. Some of them are endangered due to geological changes or tourist incursions, and in some places they are in the process of being covered by vegetation.

The terrain and vegetation of the region have been shaped by human habitation and land use since the settlement era. Within the vast heathlands are abandoned farms, old horse roads, remnants of cairns and ancient cultural relics that bear witness to people's residence, travels and life struggle during earlier times. A large portion of the area is rangeland used by sheep farmers. The sheep head to the heathlands in search of new growth in the harsh, sparsely vegetated terrain. When autumn sets in, shepherds wander these paths to gather their livestock. Sheep grazing and shepherding is still a part of life in the region, just as it has been for centuries.

The river Jökulsá á Fjöllum shapes not only the region's land and wildlife, but also its human life and culture. Ever since the settlement of Iceland, the inhabitants of the region have lived with Jökulsá, learned to recognise its whims and become familiar with the new land it's created. Residents and visitors still grapple with the river and its power to both create and destroy. They regard the river with a fearful reverence and a fondness for the region that it has formed. Old heath farms, ancient travel routes and other relics can be found in Jökulsárgljúfur, a testament to the struggles of previous generations. Park visitors can travel back in time and meet the people who lived among the rocks of Jökulsá.

Man's cohabitation with the river Jökulsá á Fjöllum

Skaftafell was a manor farm and a local assembly site in the Middle Ages. In early times, the estate was property of the church and later came under possession of the Danish monarchy. The farmstead covered a wide area of the land, spanning from the sea up to the middle of Vatnajökull. The ever increasing encroachment of the Skeiðará river destroyed the arable land on the plain, and in the middle of the 19th century, the farmers of Skaftafell moved their houses and farmland up to the slopes of Skaftafell. However, the steep incline was poorly suited to motorised agricultural equipment, and by the middle of the 20th century this fertile land was no longer as appropriate for farming as before. In 1960 it was proposed that Skaftafell be declared a national park. Skaftafell National Park was formally established on September 15th of 1967, and the farmer Ragnar Stefánsson from Hæðir in Skaftafell became the first park ranger. When Vatnajökull National Park was founded on June 7th, 2008, the national park in Skaftafell was assimilated by the new one. The region was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.

Farming was practised in Jökulsárgljúfur from the settlement area all the way to the end of the 20th century. Forests were cut down to build houses, use as firewood and to make charcoal. Wild pastures were grazed, meadows mown, and once the technology became available, land was cleared for field cultivation. The Icelandic Forest Service acquired Ásbyrgi in 1930 and efforts to conserve the birch forest in the canyon began. Around the middle of the 20th century, work on planting foreign tree species got underway, and conifer forests started growing in the canyon at the same time as the birch forests were renewed. Land use in earlier times, logging, livestock grazing and forestry, along with land reclamation in later years, leaves its mark on the region's vegetation and affects its development.

Around 1900, the first ideas about building a power station at Dettifoss in Jökulsá á Fjöllum were put forth. Land procurement for this purpose later resulted in the conservation of the land along the river and the founding of Jökulsárgljúfur National Park. Today, the region's land use is primarily shaped by outdoor recreation and the activity of all the tourists who visit the area.

Víst er talið að Fjalla-Eyvindur hafi dvalið einn vetur í Herðubreiðarlindum. Eins er líklegt að í kjölfarið  hafi hann í um áratug haldið til á hálendinu norðan Vatnajökuls ásamt Höllu konu sinni, að öllum  líkindum í Hvannalindum. Saga Eyvindar og Höllu hefur lengi verið Íslendingum hugleikin og hafa orðið  til flökkusögur um þau skötuhjú sem blandast hafa heimildum. Og þó að sumir líti á þau sem ótínda  sauðaþjófa má halda til haga hve úrræðagóð og dugmikil þau hafa verið og hve langt  sjálfsbjargarviðleitni og þráin eftir sjálfstæði getur fleytt fólki í nánast ómögulegum aðstæðum.

Ancient thoroughfares and travel literature suggest that people ventured up into the highlands in search of new land and on their journeys between settlements. Gunnar Gunnarsson's novel Aðventa made a legendary figure out of the mountaineer Fjalla-Bensi, who traveled alone into the wilderness winter after winter in search of lost sheep. The northern highlands come into play later on in the history of mountain and glacier travel in Iceland during the 20th century, when glacier voyagers made their base camp at the Gæsavötn Lakes. 

The tongues of the Vatnajökull glacier, ever transforming glacial rivers and the shallow coastline made passage to and from Öræfi difficult. Although the passage between Eastern and Southern Iceland ran through the area, travellers were forced to struggle across the glacial rivers or bypass them by crossing the glacier. The Öræfi locals thus often acted as guides as they learned from each other how to navigate the rivers and did so safely. It is interesting to note that there are no records of anyone drowning in the Skeiðará river. Transportation was revolutionised in 1948 when airplanes began to land in Fagurhólmsmýri. A bridge was then built across the river Jökulsá á Breiðamerkursandi in 1965 and the circular land route around Iceland was finally completed when Skeiðará was bridged in 1974. Even before that time, however, the people of Öræfi didn't let the lack of transportation infrastructure hold them back, and they were able to effectively make do thanks to their innovation and construction skills. While many people in modern times think of the region as isolated in those days, the locals wouldn't have agreed. Scientists, scholars and travellers frequently visited the region and stayed there both for research and for pleasure.

Downy birch (Betula pubescens) grows throughout the park and is the only Icelandic tree that forms forests. A specific variation of downy birch grows in the Bæjarstaðaskógur Forest west of Skaftafell. The forest was nearly destroyed in the middle of the last century. Bæjarstaðaskógur was fenced off and officially protected in 1935 and continues to be used as a source of seeds. The seeds are considered well suited for cultivation, as the type of birch that originates in Bæjarstaðaskógur usually has a pale trunk and grows straight and tall. For this reason it's considered beautiful by comparison to other Icelandic birches, which are often short and gnarled. It's worth mentioning that the largest self-sowing forest in Iceland in Skeiðarársandur can trace its origins to Bæjarstaðaskógur.

Náttúra & saga Vatnajökulsþjóðgarðs

History & culture

History & culture

Habitation and human landscape

Man's cohabitation with the river Jökulsá á Fjöllum

From home to world heritage

Land use in Jökulsárgljúfur

Útilegumenn í Ódáðahrauni

Ancient roads and explorers

The battle with the waters

Bæjarstaðaskógur Forest

Náttúra & saga Vatnajökulsþjóðgarðs

Landscape

Wilderness

Vatnajökull ice cap

Geology

Biome

The unique nature of the National Park