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A Swedish immigrant, [3] Olof Ohman, said that he found the stone late in 1898 while clearing land which he had recently acquired of trees and stumps before plowing. [4] The stone was said to be near the crest of a small knoll rising above the wetlands, lying face down and tangled in the root system of a stunted poplar tree estimated to be from less than 10 to about 40 years old. [5]
The Viking runestones are runestones that mention Scandinavians who participated in Viking expeditions. This article treats the runestone that refer to people who took part in voyages abroad, in western Europe, and stones that mention men who were Viking warriors and/or died while travelling in the West.
The vast majority of runestones date to the Viking Age. There is only a handful Elder Futhark (pre-Viking-Age) runestones (about eight, counting the transitional specimens created just around the beginning of the Viking Age). Årstad Stone (390–590 AD) Einang stone (4th century) Tune Runestone (250–400 AD) Kylver Stone (5th century)
The Snoldelev stone, one of the oldest runestones in Denmark. The tradition of raising stones that had runic inscriptions first appeared in the 4th and 5th century, in Norway and Sweden, and these early runestones were usually placed next to graves, [2] [3] though their precise function as commemorative monuments has been questioned. [4]
The artwork of the stone is in line with many of the other Ingvar runestones, but it is debated whether they were made by the same runemaster or not. [3] It is of note that the u-rune appears to be used for an u-umlauted a, [3] an umlaut which existed in Sweden, but was typical of the dialect of Iceland and Norway (Old West Norse).
The style or design of runestones varied during the Viking Age. The early runestones were simple in design, but towards the end of the runestone era they became increasingly complex and made by travelling runemasters such as Öpir and Visäte. A categorization of the styles was developed by Anne-Sophie Gräslund in the 1990s. [1]
The Viking Age coincided with the Christianisation of Scandinavia, and in many districts c. 50% of the stone inscriptions have traces of Christianity. In Uppland, c. 70% of the inscriptions are explicitly Christian, which is shown by engraved crosses or added Christian prayers, while only a few runestones are explicitly pagan . [ 15 ]
The stone has been carved a number of times suggesting it has been used a building material on more than one occasion. The stone is of granite and measures 100 cm × 48 cm × 42 cm (39 in × 19 in × 17 in) although it has been cut to fit as construction material resulting in the upper and right side resulting in parts of the inscription missing.