runestones 87
Scandinavia, others are still standing in the fields,
most likely in their original locations.
Runestones are the original documents of the
Viking Age (700 to 1200 a.d.) and earlier. They
provide archaeologists and scholars with the names
of men who fought in Viking wars and of their gods
and heroes. They tell of good, kind women, of rulers
and their lands, and of the people who believed in the
stories that are now Norse mythology.
The oldest stone art in Scandinavia was made
during the region’s Bronze Age, from 1600 to 450
b.c. These carvings, known as petroglyphs, show
crude people, ships, reindeer, bulls, and other objects;
examples of petroglyphs can be found in the Tanum
area in Gotland, Sweden. While some experts
see links between these drawings and the gods and
stories of Norse myths, others do not support those
conclusions.
By about 750 a.d., simple carvings of one or two
words written in runes appeared on stones. These
evolved into elaborate carvings of runic verse. Dur-
ing much of the Viking Age, artisans were creating
impressive memorials to their deceased ancestors
and their cultures. More recent runestones tell of
the Nordic conversion to Christianity in the 10th
and 11th centuries and peoples’ beliefs in that
religion.
Among the most famous runestone is the story
of Sigurd, slayer of the dragon Fafnir, carved on
bedrock near Ramsundberg, Sodermanland, Sweden.
Another is the Altuna stone near Uppland, Sweden,
which tells the story of Thor’s battle with Jormun-
gand, the Midgard Serpent.
Some of the older stones tell their stories through
pictures and contain no runes. Among these, the
most famous picture stones are the memorial stone
from Alskog, Tjanngvide, Gotland, which depicts
Odin riding his eight-legged horse, Sleipnir, and
the memorial stone in Bunge, Gotland, which shows
scenes of a journey to Hel (2).