Viking Runes

Kristina posing with a very large Viking Rune Stone

Little Kristina is my sister-in-law's niece.  She is currently on vacation and spent some time at the family home in Sweden.  She is posing with a famous ancient runestone located not far from her grandmother's birthplace in Eskilstuna.

The stone in the photo above is called the Ramsund carving.  It is believed to have been carved in, or close to, the year 1030 AD.  The text tells us the following:

Old Norse transcription: 

Sigriðr gærði bro þasi, moðiR Alriks, dottiR Orms, for salu HolmgæiRs, faður SigrøðaR, boanda sins.

English translation:

Sigríðr, Alríkr's mother, Ormr's daughter, made this bridge for the soul of Holmgeirr, father of Sigrøðr, her husbandman."

The stone was raised by an aristocratic family.  The reference to building bridges is perhaps a reference to a bridge into the afterlife. 

The carver used the legend, or Saga, of Sigurd for the illustration accompanying the text, most probably because of the similarity in the names of the persons involved. 

It's easier to see the runes in this drawing:

 You will note the numbers in the drawing above, showing what it depicts:

1) Sigurd in front of the fire preparing the dragon heart, from Fafnir, for his foster-father Regin, who is Fafnir's brother. The heart is not finished yet, and when Sigurd touches it, he burns himself and sticks his finger into his mouth. As he has tasted dragon blood, he starts to understand the birds' song.
2) The birds say that Regin will not keep his promise of reconciliation and will try to kill Sigurd, which causes Sigurd to cut off Regin's head (3).
3) Regin is dead beside his own head.  His smithing tools (with which he reforged Sigurd's sword Gram) are scattered around him.
4) Sigurd's horse Grani is laden with the dragon's treasure. He is tethered to the tree.
5) Sigurd killing Fafnir, and
6) Ótr from the saga's beginning.

My dear Viking ancestors - they were a bloodthirsty bunch!

Runestones are generally raised stones with a runic inscription, but they can also be inscriptions on boulders and bedrock, such as the one above.  The tradition appears to have begun in the 4th century and lasted for hundreds of years.

They can be found all over Scandinavia and even in Britain.

Being a tourist is fun!
It's not every day you get to lounge on an ornate 17th century cannon

Scientists have discovered through use of electron microscopes that Runestones were originally painted with the common paints of the time: red ochre, red lead, soot, calcium carbonate, and other earth colors, which were bound with fat and water.  Vikings traveled all over the world, so they also imported fancier colors, such as white lead, green malachite and blue azurite from Continental Europe.

Here's another stone located in the same area.  This one is a more typical runstone, carved on a flat stone, and raised into a vertical position.

Cousins Kristina, Maren and Andrew posing with a large Viking marker

It's rather amazing to think of these messages, raised 10-15 or so centuries ago, still standing and readable.

It makes me wonder what our civilization will leave behind for future generations.

What would you like to be remembered for a thousand years from now?