By two small bays on the western part of the island, North and South Hjartøy Bay, 36 homestead sites and 9 boathouses were found. The homestead sites were overgrown and hardly visible. Low walls of stone formed the foundation for small wooden buildings with rooms 15-25 m2, built near the sea where it was possible to drag their boats on land.
Along the inside walls there were low ridges of stone, thought to be the remains of benches, where it would have been possible both to sit and lie down. There was a hearth in the middle of the floor - the fireplace. This is where they would have made their food, warmed themselves, or dried their clothes after cold and wet days out at sea. All of the finds in these homestead sites suggest a seafaring lifestyle based on fishing. In one of the homesteads bones were discovered in the fireplace, believed to have been the remains from the last mealtime, over 1000 years ago. On the earthen floor beneath the bunk a slate sharpening stone was discovered, along with some fishing hooks. A crushed soapstone pot with the charred remains of food in it lay at the edge of the fireplace. Right beside this a small bit of the same stone was found, formed into a fishing sinker.
As with the homestead sites at Risøya in Sund, it is thought that these remains of coastal dwellings testify to an ancient seasonal fishing culture typical of the people living in the inner fjords at that time. The bone remains are from cattle, sheep, goats and red deer, suggesting that the men took with them some of their animals from home.
Datings show that the homesteads were in use from the 300s until about 1050 A.D., but that they were most active from about the 700s throughout the whole of Viking times. There were so many coastal homestead sites in use that it is fitting to speak of this area as a fishing village. If we imagine that all of the homesteads were in use, and with a boat crew if 4 people in each house, as many as 160 men could have been fishing here at one time.