Clik here to view.
Runic Aerobics Disliked by Nazis
In Nazi Germany and its occupied territories there were many ways to get thrown into an extermination camp. But Friedrich Marby broke some kind of record: he was sent to Dachau for publishing too silly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
5th Century Rune Stone Found
Most rune stones are written with the late 16-character futhark and date from the 11th century when the Scandies had largely been Christianised. Their inscriptions tend to be formulaic: “Joe erected...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Runological Report on the Hogganvik Rune Stone
Runologist James E. Knirk has published a report on the recently found Hogganvik rune stone. His transliteration is [?]kelbaþewas:s(t)^ainaR:aaasrpkf aarpaa:inanana(l/b/w)oR eknaudigastiR ekerafaR His...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hogganvik Runestone Re-erected
The recently found Norwegian 5th century runestone of Hogganvik carries a memorial inscription and so might be expected to have stood on or near a grave. My buddy Frans-Arne Stylegar has excavated the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kalv’s Runestone
Driving through Hagby parish in Uppland on a tiny road Friday, I was lucky enough to cross the bridge at Focksta right at the moment when the afternoon sun hit this lovely runestone straight on. I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Iarlabanki Had This Stone Made While He Still Lived
If we look only at contemporaneous written evidence and disregard kings, Iarlabanki Ingefastson is probably the most copiously documented Scandinavian of the Viking Period. But his name does not occur...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kensington Runestone Faker’s Signature Found
The Kensington runestone of Minnesota is a rather obvious 19th century fake. But in a recent paper in Saga och Sed 2010, Mats G. Larsson shows something less obvious: the hidden signature of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Airport Runestone
I’ve written before about the archaeological landscape surrounding Arlanda International Airport north of Stockholm. Following on yesterday’s post about the fake archaeology in Oslo airport, here’s a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Swedish Runic Corpus On-line
Here’s an extremely useful resource. The Swedish National Heritage Board has scanned the great multivolume corpus publication of Swedish runic inscriptions, Sveriges runinskrifter, and put it on-line...
View ArticleRe-Used Picture Stone Paper On-Line
My paper on the re-use of Late Iron Age picture stones during that same period (mainly in late male graves) has been published in English and Swedish parallel versions of Gotländskt Arkiv 2012. That’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Changing Fates of the Sälna Runestone
The Stone of Sälna is a runestone (U 323) erected about AD 1000 at Sälna hamlet where a major road crossed Hargsån stream in Skånela parish, Uppland. (This is not far from where Arlanda airport now...
View ArticleMessrs Silk, Licker and Ball Carve Some Runes
We interrupt this transmission for a puerile message from Medieval Bergen. It was found carved with runes on a stick at the Hanseatic docks. ion silkifuþ a mek en guþormr fuþcllæikir ræist mik en : ion...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Secrets of the Runic Lion
The Lion of Pireus is a large 4th century BC marble statue that was moved from Pireus, the port of Athens, to Venice in 1688. It is now at the city’s Arsenal. The Lion has unmistakeable Swedish 11th...
View ArticleClik here to view.
First Week of 2015 Excavations at Stensö Castle
This year’s first week of fieldwork at Stensö Castle went exceptionally well, even though I drove a camper van belonging to a team member into a ditch. We’re a team of thirteen, four of whom took part...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fornvännen’s Winter Issue On-Line
The new version of a slab from the Kivik cairn. Fornvännen 2015:1 is now on-line on Open Access. Sven Sandström on fake Paleolithic art in France. Andreas Toreld and Tommy Andersson on sensational new...
View Article