Angel Sarkela-Saur
18"x24"

Andy and I took a trip to Iceland in October 2003. Throughout our trip we would see rocks piled up in various places. We would drive for hours without seeing anyone but felt somehow comforted to see these formations. We knew that someone had been there before. When we got back, I asked a friend about these rock formations, he told me the following. These rock formations are called "vörður" (sort of a beacon). These were used in the old days by sheep-herders, mailmen bringing mail on horses from one part of the country to the next. They would essentially create a trail of these piles to find the way from one village to the next. They were especially helpful during fog and prevented many men from getting lost when you couldn't see farther than few dozen yards. As you can imagine there are all kinds of folklore associated with people having wandered away from these "beacons" and died when they fell into crevasses in the lava fields (which actually happened in reality) or were mythically taken by trolls.