NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Kensington runestone

The Kensington runestone is a roughly rectangular slab of greywacke covered in runes on its face and side. Its origin and meaning have been disputed ever since it was found in 1898 near Kensington, Minnesota. It suggests that Scandinavian explorers reached the middle of North America in the 14th century. Its origin is uncertain, and opinions are divided as to its authenticity, with some experts suggesting it is an important Medieval artifact, and others arguing the Runestone is a hoax. Image File history File links R-rune. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (525x800, 104 KB)The Kensington Runestone, discovered near Kensington, Minnesota in 1898. ... Capital Saint Paul Largest city Minneapolis Area Ranked 12th - Total 87,014 sq mi (225,365 kmÂ²) - Width 250 miles (400 km) - Length 400 miles (645 km) - % water 8. ... Kensington is a city located in Douglas County, Minnesota. ... Alexandria is a city in Douglas County, Minnesota, United States. ... A runestone being made by the modern runemaster Kalle Dahlberg. ... Swedish ( ) is a North Germanic language (also called Scandinavian languages) spoken predominantly in Sweden and in parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the Ã…land islands, by more than nine million people. ... Geats (Gautar Old Norse or Götar in Swedish) is the Old English spelling of the name of a Scandinavian people living in Götaland, land of the Geats, currently within the borders of modern Sweden. ... Vinland (Old Icelandic: Plain land ) was the name given to an area of North America by the norseman Leif EirÃksson, about the year (AD) 1000. ... Ave Maria (Latin: Hail, Maria or Hail, Mary) may refer to: Hail Mary, a traditional Catholic and Eastern Orthodox prayer calling for the intercession of Mary, the mother of Jesus A musical rendition of the Ave Maria prayer by Gounod (set to Prelude #1 from Well-Tempered Clavier). ... A rune stone in Lund Rune stones are stones with runic inscriptions dating from the early Middle Ages but are found to have been used most prominently during the Viking Age. ... For other uses, see Rune (disambiguation). ... Runology is the study of the Runic alphabets and inscriptions. ... The runestone styles were part of the general evolution of art in Scandinavia. ... Greywacke (German grauwacke, signifying a grey, earthy rock) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly-sorted, angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments set in a compact, clay-fine matrix. ... For other uses, see Rune (disambiguation). ... Year 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Kensington is a city located in Douglas County, Minnesota. ... Scandinavia is a historical and geographical region centered on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe which includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. ... North America North America is a continent[1] in the Earths northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. ... This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ... A hoax is an attempt to trick an audience into believing that something false is real. ...

Early history

Swedish American farmer Olof Öhman said he found the stone while clearing his land of trees and stumps before plowing. It was reportedly on a small knoll or hillside, lying face down and buried in the root system of a tree believed to be at least ten years old. According to several witnesses, some of the roots were flattened and fit tightly around the stone. Öhman's ten-year-old son noticed some markings and the farmer later said he thought they'd found an "Indian almanac." The artifact is about 30 x 16 x 6 inches or 76.2 x 40.64 x 15.24 centimeters in size and weighs about 200 pounds (90 kg). Swedish Americans are U.S. Americans with Swedish heritage, most often related to the large groups of immigrants from Sweden in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. ... The traditional way: a German farmer works the land with a horse and plough. ... An almanac (also spelled almanack, especially in Commonwealth English) is an annual publication containing tabular information in a particular field or fields often arranged according to the calendar. ...

When Öhman discovered the stone, the journey of Leif Ericson to Vinland (North America) was being widely discussed and there was renewed interest in the Vikings throughout Scandinavia, stirred by the National Romanticism movement. Five years earlier a Danish archaeologist had proved it was possible to travel to North America in medieval ships. There was also some friction between Sweden and Norway due to the latter's recent independence: Some Norwegians claimed the stone was a Swedish hoax and there were similar Swedish accusations because the stone is inscribed with a reference to a joint expedition of Norwegians and Swedes at a time when they were both ruled by the same king. For other uses, see Leif Ericson (disambiguation). ... Vinland (Old Icelandic: Plain land ) was the name given to an area of North America by the norseman Leif EirÃksson, about the year (AD) 1000. ... For other uses, see Viking (disambiguation). ... Liberty leading the people, embodying the Romantic view of the French Revolution of 1830; its painter Eugène Delacroix also served as an elected deputy Romantic nationalism (also organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of...

Soon after it was found, the stone was displayed at a local bank (there is no evidence Öhman tried to make money from his find). An error-ridden copy of the inscription made its way to the Greek language department at the University of Minnesota, then to Olaus J. Breda, a professor of Scandinavian languages and literature there from 1884 to 1899, who showed little interest in the find and whose runic knowledge was later questioned by some researchers. Breda made a translation, declared it to be a forgery and forwarded copies to linguists in Scandinavia. Norwegian archaeologist Oluf Rygh also concluded the stone was a fraud (based on a letter from Breda, who never actually saw the stone), as did several other linguists. Archaeological evidence of Viking settlements in Canada wouldn't appear for another half a century and the idea of pre-Columbian Vikings wandering through Minnesota then seemed implausible to most academics. (It still seems implausible to most academics; Minnesota is a far less likely Viking landfall than L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, where archaeological evidence of a Viking presence from around the year 1000 was found in 1960.) Washington Avenue Bridge at night The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, almost always abbreviated U of M, and sometimes referred to as The U by locals, is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system. ... LAnse aux Meadows (from the French LAnse-aux-MÃ©duses or Jellyfish Cove) is a site on the northernmost tip of the island of Newfoundland, in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, where the remains of a Viking village were discovered in 1960 by the Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad and...

By now the stone had been sent to Northwestern University in Chicago. With scholars either dismissing it as a prank or unable to identify a sustainable historical context it was returned to Öhman, who is said to have placed it face down near the door of his granary as a "stepping stone" which he also used for straightening out nails (years later his son said this was an "untruth" and that they had it set up in an adjacent shed). In 1907 the stone was purchased, reportedly for ten dollars, by Hjalmar Holand, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Holand created renewed public interest and further studies were made by geologist Newton Horace Winchell (Minnesota Historical Society) and linguist George Flom (Philological Society of the University of Illinois), who both published opinions in 1910. Northwestern University (officially abbreviated NU; sometimes abbreviated NWU) is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational research university with campuses located in Evanston, Illinois and downtown Chicago, Illinois. ... Nickname: Motto: Urbs in Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in the Chicago metro area and Illinois Coordinates: , Country State Counties Cook, DuPage Settled 1770s Incorporated March 4, 1837 Government - Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area - City 234. ... Hjalmar R. Holand was an early advocate for the theory that Vikings visited the New World 500 years before Columbus. ... â€œUniversity of Wisconsinâ€ redirects here. ... Newton Horace Winchell (1839-1914)was the extremely prolific Minnesota [(geologist]] responsible for the six-volume The Geology of Minnesota: Final Report of the Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota, which is the work of Winchell and his assistants. ... The Minnesota Historical Society is a Minnesota instutution dedicated to preserving the history of the state. ... A society in Great Britain dedicated to the study of language. ... The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, or simply Illinois), is the oldest, largest and most prestigious campus in the University of Illinois system. ...

According to Winchell, the poplar tree under which the stone was found had been destroyed but several nearby poplars of the same size were cut down and by counting their rings it was determined they were 40 years old thus suggesting the original poplar was around 30 years old at the time of the discovery. Since the surrounding county had not been settled until 1858 it seemed less likely the stone could be a forgery (if it had truly been found wrapped in the roots of a similar poplar tree). Winchell also concluded that the weathering of the stone indicated the inscription was roughly 500 years old. Meanwhile, Flom found a strong apparent divergence between the runes used in the Kensington inscription and those in use during the 14th century. Similarly, the linguistic forms didn't match surviving written examples from that era.

Most discussions over the Kensington Runestone's authenticity have been based on an apparent conflict between the linguistic and physical evidence. The Runestone's discovery by a Swedish farmer in Minnesota at a time when Viking history and Scandinavian culture were such popular and sometimes controversial topics casts a stark shadow of skepticism that has lingered for more than a hundred years.

Historical support

In 1354 King Magnus Erikson of Sweden and Norway issued a letter of protection (or passport) to Paul Knutson for a voyage to the Norwegian dependency of Greenland. The Western Settlement of Greenland had been found abandoned (but for some cattle) a few years earlier and it was believed the population had rejected the Church (and its ownership of the local farms, which had been gradually acquired in payment of various fees), reverted to paganism and gone to what is now known as North America. PD image, from Swedish Wikipedia This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... PD image, from Swedish Wikipedia This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Events End of reign of John VI Cantacuzenus, as Byzantine emperor. ... Sigillum ad causas for Magnus II of Sweden Magnus Ericson, Magnus VII of Norway, the fourth Magnus to have been proclaimed king of Sweden (1316 â€“ December 1, 1377), King of Sweden, Norway, and Terra Scania, son of Duke Eric Magnusson of Sweden and Ingeborg, daughter of Haakon V of Norway. ... For other types of travel document, see Travel document. ... Paul Knutson was a 14th-century Swedish explorer, who in 1354 was directed by King Magnus IV of Sweden to travel to Greenland and work to preserve Christianity there. ... Location of the Nuuk municipality in Greenland Nuuk (The Cape) (Danish: GodthÃ¥b, which translates to Good Hope in English) is the capital and largest city of the self-governing Danish territory of Greenland. ... Look up pagan, heathen in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

In 1887 historian Gustav Storm mentioned the journey, suggesting it returned in 1363 or 1364. This appears to be the first published work that documents a voyage to North America matching the date on the stone. It has since been confirmed by a 1577 letter from Gerard Mercator to John Dee, which excerpts an earlier work by Jacobus Cnoyen (now lost) describing a voyage beyond Greenland that returned with 8 men in 1364. Cnoyen also mentions that a priest accompanied the voyage and wrote an account of it in a book called the Inventio Fortunate which is cited in a number of medieval and Renaissance documents, although no copy remains. That Ivar Bardson had returned either in 1363 or early 1364 is documented from a Norwegian Diploma dated 25 June 1364 where 'Ivarus Barderij' is confirmed by Bishop Botolv in Stavanger to have delivered collected tithes. 1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... Centuries: 13th century - 14th century - 15th century Decades: 1310s 1320s 1330s 1340s 1350s - 1360s - 1370s 1380s 1390s 1400s 1410s Years: 1358 1359 1360 1361 1362 - 1363 - 1364 1365 1366 1367 1368 See also: 1363 state leaders Events Magnus II, King of Sweden, is deposed by Albert of Mecklenburg. ... Centuries: 13th century - 14th century - 15th century Decades: 1310s 1320s 1330s 1340s 1350s - 1360s - 1370s 1380s 1390s 1400s 1410s Years: 1359 1360 1361 1362 1363 - 1364 - 1365 1366 1367 1368 1369 See also: 1364 state leaders Events Charles V becomes King of France. ... Events March 17 - formation of the Cathay Company to send Martin Frobisher back to the New World for more gold May 28 - Publication of the Bergen Book, better known as the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord, one of the Lutheran confessional writings. ... Gerardus Mercator (March 5, 1512 - December 2, 1594) was a famous Flemish cartographer, remembered for the Mercator projection named after him. ... For the American college basketball coach, see John Dee (basketball coach). ... Centuries: 13th century - 14th century - 15th century Decades: 1310s 1320s 1330s 1340s 1350s - 1360s - 1370s 1380s 1390s 1400s 1410s Years: 1359 1360 1361 1362 1363 - 1364 - 1365 1366 1367 1368 1369 See also: 1364 state leaders Events Charles V becomes King of France. ... Inventio Fortunata (also Inventio Fortunate, Inventio Fortunat or Inventio Fortunatae), Discovery of Fortunata, is a lost book, probably dating from the 14th Century, containing a description of the North Pole as a magnetic island surrounded by a giant whirlpool and four continents. ... is the 176th day of the year (177th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Centuries: 13th century - 14th century - 15th century Decades: 1310s 1320s 1330s 1340s 1350s - 1360s - 1370s 1380s 1390s 1400s 1410s Years: 1359 1360 1361 1362 1363 - 1364 - 1365 1366 1367 1368 1369 See also: 1364 state leaders Events Charles V becomes King of France. ...

The Inventio is cited on some 16th century maps as a source for their depiction of the Arctic. It is not known if the voyage went as far as Hudson Bay but some maps are claimed to have depicted the bay at least a century before its first known exploration and this reportedly influenced Columbus in planning his own voyage west across the Atlantic. So while a clever forger could have deduced the correct date to put on the Runestone from information available at the time of its discovery, an expedition does seem to have taken place as inscribed on the stone. (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... The red line indicates the 10Â°C isotherm in July, commonly used to define the Arctic region border Satellite image of the Arctic surface The Arctic is the region around the Earths North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around the South Pole. ... Hudson Bay, Canada. ... Christopher Columbus (1451 â€“ May 20, 1506) was a navigator and maritime explorer credited as the discoverer of the Americas. ... Forgery is the process of making or adapting objects or documents (see false document), with the intention to deceive (fraud is the use of objects obtained through forgery). ...

Geography

Kensington is near a portage between the Hudson Bay and Mississippi watersheds. A natural north-south navigation route extends from Hudson Bay up Nelson River through Lake Winnipeg, then up the Red River of the North through a canyon carved by the outflow from the glacial Lake Agassiz. It abruptly ends at the bottom of what may be an old riverbed (a location characterized by the ground rising due to isostatic rebound) west of Cormorant Lake. It has been speculated that explorers entering North America from the north and looking for a route south (perhaps aided by local native American knowledge of waterways) would have naturally been drawn into the Kensington area. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 600 pixelsFull resolution (2400 Ã— 1800 pixel, file size: 404 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 600 pixelsFull resolution (2400 Ã— 1800 pixel, file size: 404 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... The Traverse Gap is an ancient river channel on the border of the U.S. states of Minnesota and South Dakota between Lake Traverse and Big Stone Lake at Browns Valley, Minnesota. ... Glacial River Warren or River Warren is the name of a prehistoric river which drained Lake Agassiz in central North America between 11,700 and 9,400 years ago. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The Traverse Gap is an ancient river channel on the border of the U.S. states of Minnesota and South Dakota between Lake Traverse and Big Stone Lake at Browns Valley, Minnesota. ... For the Gentoo Linux package manager, see Portage (software). ... Hudson Bay, Canada. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... The Nelson River is a river of north-central North America, in the Canadian province of Manitoba. ... Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba, on Lake Winnipeg Lake Winnipeg (52Â°30â€²N 97Â°47â€²W) is a very large (24,400 kmÂ²) lake in central North America, in the province of Manitoba, Canada, about 55 km north of the city of Winnipeg. ... The Red River drainage basin, with the Red River highlighted The Red River in Greater Grand Forks, as viewed from the Grand Forks side of the river The Red River in Fargo-Moorhead, as viewed from the Fargo side of the river For other things named Red River, see the... Grand Canyon, Arizona Noravank Monastery complex and canyon in Armenia. ... A map of the extent of Lake Agassiz Lake Agassiz was an immense lakeâ€”bigger than all of the present-day Great Lakes combinedâ€”in the center of North America, which was fed by glacial runoff at the end of the last ice age. ... The Traverse Gap is an ancient river channel on the border of the U.S. states of Minnesota and South Dakota between Lake Traverse and Big Stone Lake at Browns Valley, Minnesota. ... Post-glacial rebound (sometimes called continental rebound, isostatic rebound or isostatic adjustment) is the rise of land masses that were depressed by the huge weight of ice sheets during the last ice age, through a process known as isostatic depression. ... North America North America is a continent[1] in the Earths northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. ... Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska. ...

Other artifacts?

This waterway also contains alleged signs of Viking presence. At Cormorant Lake in Becker County, Minnesota, there are three boulders with triangular holes which are claimed to be similar to those used for mooring boats along the coast of Norway during the 14th century. Holand found other triangular holes in rocks near where the stone was found. A 14th century Scandinavian firesteel was claimed to have been found between the Cormorant Lake and Kensington, where the Runestone was unearthed. Becker County is a county located in the state of Minnesota. ... Mooring may refer to: Mooring (watercraft), any device used to hold secure an object by means of cables, anchors, or lines Mooring (North Frisian dialect) spoken in Germany Arthur Mooring, British Resident to the Sultan of Zanzibar Leeland and Jack Mooring, members of the Christian band Leeland The Moorings, New...

However, no Viking artifacts or non-Native American artifacts dating from the 14th century have been recovered under controlled, professionally conducted archaeological investigations, and there remains a possibility they were brought by Europeans centuries later. Similarly, the dating of any Viking-like mooring holes cut into rocks in the region has been elusive. This July 2007 does not cite any references or sources. ...

Debate

Holand took the stone to Europe and while newspapers in Minnesota carried articles hotly debating its authenticity the stone was quickly dismissed by Swedish linguists.

For the next 40 years, Holand struggled to sway public and scholarly opinion about the Runestone, writing articles and several books. He achieved brief success in 1949, when the stone was put on display at the Smithsonian Institution, and scholars such as William Thalbitzer and S. N. Hagen published papers supporting its authenticity. However, at nearly the same time, Scandinavian linguists Sven Jansson, Erik Moltke, Harry Anderson and K. M. Nielsen (along with a popular book by Erik Wahlgren) again questioned the Runestone's authenticity William C. Thalbitzer (1873 - 1958) was a Danish philolog and professor of eskimo studies. ... Erik Moltke (b. ...

Along with Wahlgren, historian Theodore Blegen flatly asserted Ohman had carved the artifact as a prank, possibly with help from others in the Kensington area. Further resolution seemed to come with the 1976 transcript of an audio tape made by Walter Gran several years earlier. In it, Gran said his father John confessed in 1927 that Ohman made the inscription. John Gran's story however was based on second-hand anecdotes he had heard about Ohman, and although it was presented as a deathbed confession, Gran lived for several years afterwards saying nothing more about the stone. In 2005 supporters of the runestone's authenticity attempted to explain this with claims that Gran was motivated by jealousy over the attention Ohman had received.

The possibility of a Scandinavian provenance for the Runestone was renewed in 1982 when linguist Robert Hall of Cornell University published a book (and a follow up in 1994) questioning the methodology of its critics. He asserted that the odd philological problems in the Runestone could be the result of normal dialectic variances in Old Swedish during the purported carving of the Runestone. Further, he contended that critics had failed to consider the physical evidence, which he found leaning heavily in favour of authenticity. Meanwhile in The Vikings and America (1986) former UCLA professor Erik Wahlgren wrote that the text bore linguistic abnormalities and spellings that suggested the Runestone was a forgery. Provenance is the origin or source from which anything comes. ... Cornell University is a university located in Ithaca, New York, USA. Its two medical campuses are in New York City and Education City, Qatar. ... Methodology is defined as the analysis of the // == Headline text == principles of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline or the development of methods, to be applied within a discipline a particular procedure or set of procedures. [1]. It should be noted that methodology is frequently used when method... Binomial name Ucla xenogrammus Holleman, 1993 The largemouth triplefin, Ucla xenogrammus, is a fish of the family Tripterygiidae and only member of the genus Ucla, found in the Pacific Ocean from Viet Nam, the Philippines, Palau and the Caroline Islands to Papua New Guinea, Australia (including Christmas Island), and the...

Richard Nielsen

In 1983, inspired by Hall, Richard Nielsen, a trained engineer and amateur language researcher from Houston, Texas) studied the Kensington Runestone's runology and linguistics, disputing several earlier claims of forgery. For example, the rune which had been interpreted as standing for the letter J (and according to critics, invented by the forger) could be interpreted as a rare form of the L rune found only in a few 14th century manuscripts.^[1] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The Codex Runicus is one of the few runic texts found on parchment. ... Richard Nielsen of Houston, Texas, an amateur researcher on the linguistics and runology of the Kensington Runestone, grew up in a Danish-speaking home in California, earned a doctorate in materials science from the Technical University of Denmark, and developed an intense interest in the Kensington Runestone (KRS) while living... Look up engineer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Houston redirects here. ... Official language(s) No official language See languages of Texas Capital Austin Largest city Houston Largest metro area Dallasâ€“Fort Worth Metroplex Area Ranked 2nd - Total 261,797 sq mi (678,051 kmÂ²) - Width 773 miles (1,244 km) - Length 790 miles (1,270 km) - % water 2. ... Forgery is the process of making or adapting objects or documents (see false document), with the intention to deceive. ...

Nielsen also noted that the dialect found on the Runestone was an a dialect unlike the far more common e dialect spoken by most Swedes including Ohman.^{[dubious – discuss]} This dialect was used primarily near the Bohuslän region, (at the time, known as Båhuslen region of southeast Norway, next to the border of Sweden and near a Danish area). According to Nielsen the language on the stone appears to combine dialectic forms from intersecting languages.^{[citation needed]} This localisation of the dialect may be historically supported since king Magnus IV of Sweden, who sent the expedition, resided at Bohus Fortress and had been crowned king of both Sweden and Norway. A dialect (from the Greek word Î´Î¹Î¬Î»ÎµÎºÏ„Î¿Ï‚, dialektos) is a variety of a language characteristic of a particular group of the languages speakers. ... , (Latin: Bahusia; Norwegian: BÃ¥huslen) is a province (landskap) in West Sweden (VÃ¤stsverige). ... Sigillum ad causas for Magnus II of Sweden Magnus Ericson, Magnus VII of Norway, the fourth Magnus to have been proclaimed king of Sweden (1316 â€“ December 1, 1377), King of Sweden, Norway, and Terra Scania, son of Duke Eric Magnusson of Sweden and Ingeborg, daughter of Haakon V of Norway. ... Bohus Fortress, or Bohus Fästning, is a fortress from the 14th century at Kungälv in Sweden. ...

Physical analysis

In December 1998, just over a hundred years after the Kensington Runestone had been found, a detailed physical analysis was made for the first time since Winchell's report in 1910. This included photography with a reflected light microscope, core sampling and examination with a scanning electron microscope.

In November 2000, geologist Scott F. Wolter presented preliminary findings suggesting the stone had undergone an in-the-ground weathering process that would have taken a minimum of 50-200 years. For example, Wolter noted a complete loss of mica on the inscribed surface of the stone. Samples from slate gravestones in Maine dating back 200 years showed considerable pyrite degradation but not the complete absence seen on the runestone. However, given that the gravestone samples were not subjected to the same conditions as the runestone, this comparison still suggests the runestone was buried long before the first permanent European settlement of the area in 1858. SCOTT F. WOLTER Minnesota geologist Scott F. Wolter was hired in 2000 by the Runestone Museum in Alexandria, Minnesota, to test the surface of the Kensington Runestone, which was discovered by Olof Ohmann in 1898 buried under a tree on his farm near Kensington, Minnesota. ... Rock with mica Mica sheet Mica flakes The mica group of sheet silicate minerals includes several closely related materials having highly perfect basal cleavage. ... Official language(s) None (English and French de facto) Capital Augusta Largest city Portland Area Ranked 39th - Total 33,414 sq mi (86,542 kmÂ²) - Width 210 miles (338 km) - Length 320 miles (515 km) - % water 13. ...

In 2007, an authentic rune was discovered in a 13th century document which was identical to one of the unusual runes on the Runestone that linguistic experts had suggested was invented by a hoaxer. In response, Wolter examined each individual rune on the Kensington stone with a microscope. He found a series of dots engraved inside four R-shaped runes. Research found that indentical dotted runes are found only on 14th century graves in churches on the island of Gotland off the coast of Sweden. "We found the dotted R's. It's an extremely rare rune that only appeared during medieval times. This absolutely fingerprints [the Kensington Runestone] to the 14th century. This is linguistic proof. This is medieval, period" Wolter said. is a county, province and municipality of Sweden and the second largest island in the Baltic Sea after Zealand. ...

Some critics have noted the surviving sharpness of the chisel work, asking how this could have endured centuries of freeze-thaw cycles and seepage. However, the back of the stone has crisply preserved glacial scratches that are thousands of years old. Other observers contend the runes have weathered consistently with the rest of the stone.

Linguistic and cultural context

In 2001, Nielsen published an article on the Scandinavian Studies website refuting claims the runes were Dalecarlian (a more modern form). He asserted that while some runes on the Kensington Runestone are similar to Dalecarlian runes, over half have no such connection, and are best explained by 14th-century usage. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 409 Ã— 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (775 Ã— 1135 pixel, file size: 230 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Subject: AM 28 8vo, known as Codex runicus, a vellum manuscript from c. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 409 Ã— 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (775 Ã— 1135 pixel, file size: 230 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Subject: AM 28 8vo, known as Codex runicus, a vellum manuscript from c. ... The Codex Runicus is one of the few runic texts found on parchment. ... Scanian law (Danish SkÃ¥nske Lov and Swedish SkÃ¥nelagen) is the oldest Danish and also the oldest Nordic provincial law, covering the geographic region of then Danish SkÃ¥neland (at the time including Halland, Blekinge and the island of Bornholm) as well as, for a short period, the island...

In 2004, the Massey Twins (Dr. Keith Massey and Rev. Kevin Massey) claimed that an abbreviation technique used in the phrase AVM (Av[e] Maria) on the Kensington Stone is entirely Medieval in character and could not have been known to any potential forger at the time the artifact was discovered. Keith Massey, Ph. ... Rev. ...

In The Kensington Runestone: Approaching a Research Question Holistically (2005) archeologist Alice Beck Kehoe alluded to reports of contact between native American populations and outsiders prior to the time of the runestone, which tend to validate the possibility of a fourteenth century, northern European Scandanavian expedition. These include historical references to the "blond" Indians among the Mandan on the Upper Missouri River, signs of a tuberculosis epidemic among American Indians about 1000 A.D. and the Hochunk (Winnebago) story about an ancestral hero "Red Horn" and his encounter with "red-haired giants." The Mandan are a Native American tribe that historically lived along the banks of the Missouri River and its tributaries, the Heart and Knife Rivers in present-day North and South Dakota. ... The legend of Red Horn (also known as He Who Wears Human Heads as Earrings[1]) is found in the oral traditions of the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) people and was recorded by anthropologist Paul Radin around 1900. ...

Text

The inscription on the face (where a few words may be missing due to spalling and calcification of some of the stone) reads: Spall are flakes of a material that are broken off a larger solid body. ...

8 göter ok 22 norrmen paa opthagelse farth fro winlanth of west Wi hathe läger weth 2 skylar en thags norder fro theno sten wi war ok fiske en thag äptir wi kom hem fan X man rothe af bloth og ded AVM frälse af illum.

Translation: 8 Geats (South Swedes) and 22 Norwegians on acquisition venture from Vinland far to the west We had traps by 2 shelters one day's travel to the north from this stone We were fishing one day. After we came home found 10 men red with blood and dead AVM (Ave Maria) Deliver from evils. Geats (Gautar Old Norse or Götar in Swedish) is the Old English spelling of the name of a Scandinavian people living in Götaland, land of the Geats, currently within the borders of modern Sweden. ... Ave Maria (Latin: Hail, Maria or Hail, Mary) may refer to: Hail Mary, a traditional Catholic and Eastern Orthodox prayer calling for the intercession of Mary, the mother of Jesus A musical rendition of the Ave Maria prayer by Gounod (set to Prelude #1 from Well-Tempered Clavier). ...

har X mans we hawet at se äptir wore skip 14 thag rise from theno odh Ar wars Herra 1362.

Translation: I have 10 men at the inland sea/lake to look after our ship 14 days travel from this wealth/property Year of our Lord 1362

The English translation is Nielsen's 2001 version. Typically, a modern Swede can barely make out the meaning. The AVM is historically consistent since any Scandinavian explorers would have been Catholic at that time. Earlier translations routinely interpreted skylar as skerries (or small, rocky islands) but Nielsen's research suggests this meaning is unlikely.

As an example of the linguistic discussion that has surrounded this text, the Swedish term opthagelse farth (journey of exploration), or updagelsfard as it often appears, is not known to have existed in Old Swedish, Old Danish, nor in Middle Dutch or Middle Low German during the 14th or 15th centuries. The correct contemporary and modern word would be upptäcktsfärd. However, in a conversation with Holand in 1911 the lexicographer of the Old Swedish Dictionary (Soderwall) noted that his work was limited mostly to surviving legal documents written in formal and stilted language and that the root word opdage could have been a borrowed Germanic term. Nonetheless, linguists skeptical of a Scandinavian provenance consider this word to be a neologism and note that late 19th century Norwegian historian Gustav Storm often used the term in a series of articles on Viking exploration published in a Norwegian newspaper and known to have been circulated in Minnesota.

Nielsen suggests that the Þ transliterated above as th or d could also be given a t sound, so for him the word translates as uptagelsfart (acquisition expedition), also an acceptable 14th-century expression. A problem with this suggestion is that in the rest of the text, the Thorn rune regularly corresponds to modern Scandinavian d-sounds and only occasionally to historical th-sounds while the T-rune is used for all other t-sounds. The thorn-rune ᚦ is called thurs (giant) in the Icelandic and Norwegian rune poems: In Anglo-Saxon England, the same rune was called thorn and it survives as the letter Þ. Categories: Runes ...

Another characteristic pointed out by skeptics is the text's lack of cases. Norse had the four cases of modern German. They had disappeared from common speech by the 16th century but were still predominant in the 14th century (see Swedish language). Moreover the text does not use plural verb forms, which were also predominant in the 14th century but have disappeared from the modern languages. The examples are (plural forms in parenthesis) "wi war" (warum), "hathe" (hafðum), "[wi] fiske" (fiskum), "kom" (komum), "fann" (funnum) and "wi hathe" (havum). On the other hand, proponents of the stone's authenticity point to examples of these forms in 14th-century texts. This is a list of grammatical cases as they are used by various inflectional languages that have declension. ... A North Germanic language is any of several Germanic languages spoken in Scandinavia, parts of Finland and on the islands west of Scandinavia. ... Swedish ( ) is a North Germanic language (also called Scandinavian languages) spoken predominantly in Sweden and in parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the Ã…land islands, by more than nine million people. ...

The inscription contains runic (or pentadic) numerals that have never been found on any other verified rune stone. Numbers were usually written as words with individual runes. For example, to write EINN (one) the runes E-I-N-N were used (not numerals) and the word EN (one) is in the Kensington inscription. Writing all the numbers out (such as thirteen hundred and sixty-two) would have severely cramped the available surface space, so the stone's author (whether a forger or 14th-century explorer) simplified things by using pentadic runes as numerals in the Arabic positional numbering system, which had appeared in Scandinavia by the 14th century. Edward Larssons notes from 1885 show the use of pentadic runic numerals to replace the Arabic numerals in representing dates. ... A positional notation or place-value notation system is a numeral system in which each position is related to the next by a constant multiplier, a common ratio, called the base or radix of that numeral system. ...

Edward Larsson's notes

Many runes in the inscription deviate from known 14th-century fuþark but in 2004 it was discovered that these appear along with pentadic runes in the 1885 notes of an 18-year-old journeyman tailor with an interest in folk music, Edward Larsson. A copy was published by the Institute for Dialectology, Onomastics and Folklore Research in Umeå, Sweden and while an accompanying article suggested the runes were a secret cipher used by the tailors guild, no usage of futharks by any 19th-century guild has been documented. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (890x1414, 605 KB)Edward Larssons rune cipher resembling that found on the Kensington Runestone. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (890x1414, 605 KB)Edward Larssons rune cipher resembling that found on the Kensington Runestone. ... For other uses, see Rune (disambiguation). ... DAUM, the Institute for Dialectology, Onomastics and Folklore Research in UmeÃ¥, is a Swedish governmental archive bureau which collects, preserves, works up and provides information about dialects, place names, folklore culture and local history. ... UmeÃ¥ (IPA: ) is a city and municipality in the county of VÃ¤sterbotten, Sweden. ...

Without a source for Larsson's runerows (for example an ancient book or modern guild derivation) it is difficult to give their origin any particular date range. The runes could have been available for use by a 19th-century forger, but Larsson's notes eliminate any possibility that the unusual runes were made up on the spot by the stone's author.

Conclusion

The Kensington Runestone could be a 19th century forgery or an important archaeological find from the 14th century. Those who ascribe a Scandinavian origin to the stone claim it shows evidence of obscure medieval runes and intersecting word forms which would have been unknown to potential forgers in the 1800s. These advocates tend to be enthusiastic but may lack professional credentials. Interested professional archaeologists, historians and Scandinavian linguists tend to question the stone's provenance. Any discussion of the runestone (such as suggesting the runestone's runes were used by 19th century guilds, or that the knoll on which it was found may have been a small island 600 years earlier) is fraught with opportunities for misinterpretation and speculation.

By 2002 further analysis by Nielsen suggested the stone's linguistics were plausible for the 14th century. Evidence for all of the unusual word and rune forms has reportedly been found in medieval sources. Historically, it appears there may have been an exploratory trip beyond Greenland in the year mentioned on the stone and geochemical analysis suggests the stone was buried prior to the first documented arrival of Europeans in the region.

In a joint statement for a 2004 exhibition of the stone at the Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm, Nielsen and Henrik Williams, a professor of Scandinavian Languages at Uppsala University and a proponent of the forgery theory, noted there were linguistic discrepancies for both 14th and 19th century origins of the inscription and that the runestone "requires further study before a secure conclusion can be reached." This was a rare instance in which the academic community and runestone enthusiasts found something upon which they could agree. Uppsala University (Swedish Uppsala universitet) is a public university in Uppsala, Sweden. ...

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