Runestones

There are more than 4,000 runic inscriptions in stone in Sweden. They range from the 3rd century to the end of the Viking Age, each with messages and announcements. They constitute the oldest preserved original documents in the Swedish language and are therefore an important link to Sweden's history.

From the early 1900’s to the 1980’s, Sweden’s rune stones were documented and published in an extensive series of volumes ‘Sveriges Runinskrifter’. The lionshare of this documentation is done by Erik Brate and Elias Wessén. Nowadays much of this data is published digitally and accessible via the Rundata website.

We are lucky to have the VIKINK studio in an area which is full of historical sites from Stone Age to Medieval Period. Several Viking Age runestones are within minutes away from the tattoo studio and if you would like to see these ancient giants in person, we would be happy to take you there.

Sveriges Runinskrifter

In Sveriges Runinskrifter we also find a wealth of photography of the runestones in their natural environment. Many of these stones still stand as they always and, hopefully, alway will remain so. The stones in these volumes are all documented per province and numbered. Each province has their own code followed by a number, for example VG169 (Västergötland 169). At VIKINK we have the full library available online, containing all the books. Contact us if you want access to the files.

Runestones in Västergötland

Below we will list a few of the runestones in the area of the our tattoo studio. We'd be happy to show you these in person and organise a trip to get inspired.

Above we see runestone VG169, located in Svedjorna in Södra Ving. This stone during its life was split in half for unknown reasons, but put back together in the 1900's. Of this repair a black and white photo exists, giving a unique insight in the life of this particular rune stone.

The inscription on this stone reads:

"Tole and Torny made these monuments in memory of Tore and Klakke(?), their sons".

The photo of the restoration of stone VG169 in 1936. Today the crack is still visible. The stone is on public land and easily accessible.

Many runestones throughout Scandinavia are found near or on Christian sites, like the runestones below which are found in a church Blidsberg, not far from the studio. Especially as the Viking Age progressed, more and more rune stones started showing Christian influences like crosses.

Notable runestones

Björketorp runestone

HaidR runo runu, falh'k hedra ginnarunaR. Argiu hermalausR, ... weladauþe, saR þat brytR. Uþarba spa...

"I, master of the runes(?) conceal here runes of power. Incessantly (plagued by) maleficence, (doomed to) insidious death (is) he who breaks this monument)..."

The Björketorp runestone, dated to the 7th century and located in Blekinge county in southern Sweden, is one of the very few runestones which shows a direct warning to the reader. The runes carved point toward the dire consequences which will follow when breaking the monument. Few other stones give warnings like these, however the Björketorp stones are not the only one. It seems the maker of these stones produced another set with a similar warning. The Stentoften runestone is very likely produced by the same maker and gives a nearly identical warning to the reader. It is largely unknown as to why this warning was given and why we only see these in the Blekinge area.

Photo: Blekinge museums samlingsdatabas

Where to start looking for runestones?

As mentioned above, we are perfectly happy to show you around the area to visit some of the runestones here in southwest Sweden. Would you rather look for the stones yourself, then Runkartan.se is the place to start. Runkartan is more or less the online continuation to the previously mentioned books. All runestones known in Sweden are documented and mapped out in this online environment. It is worth mentioning is that, although all runestones are listed, not all of them are easily found nor have a photo in the online database. You might run into an empty dirt road with no signage and the stone might not be immediately visible.

Sidenote: many runestones are on private property!