Kolkuos, former Kolbeinsaros, was among the most important harbour trading posts of the country during the Middle Ages and also the main harbour of the bishopric Holar.  According to The Book of Settlements, the first horses brought to the country, were unloaded there.  The houses still standing at Kolkuos are a dwelling house (1903) and an abattoir (1913).  A society was established to forward archaeological excavations and research of the area, both on dry land and in the sea, during the first years of the 21^st century.  Among its main goals is research concerning the social and economic role of the trading post in the past and the restoration of the aforementioned houses.  The society’s prime role in the beginning is to attract individuals, companies, and the government to fund the project, and later on to establish a new society of the friends of the project for future funding.

In August 2004, archaeologists stumbled on a pagan grave with a skeleton and a pigs jawbone, which they did not expect within the area.  During the summer of 2006, submarine research is going to be carried out where a spit of land used to shelter the harbour and link the islet to the mainland.