The institute was established in the summer of 1995 by Adolf Friðriksson, Orri Vésteinsson, Mjöll Snæsdóttir, Birna Gunnarsdóttir, and Garðar Guðmundsson. From the start we have aimed to provide high quality research and project outputs in Icelandic archaeology. Our innovative survey technique has proved successful in Iceland by integrating place names, ethnography, historical documents, and archaeological information into a single database, Ísleif.

We also aim to bridge the research and commercial sector within the Institute and universities in the North-Atlantic region and North America. In doing so, we manage to maintain a high standard of professional practice in our work which is reflected in our academic output.

We have a good domestic and international reputation in research-led projects, such as the excavation of a Viking feast hall, Hofstaðir, and landscape studies in Viking age burial practice. Aspects of this work have been published in several journal articles, academic books, and monographs. Recently, our research focus has been on the landscape of hreppur assemblies, later historical irrigation techniques, the built heritage of swimming pools and communal centres and further work on medieval and later historical material culture.