In August last year the new owners to this old cottage at a property along Gammelgårdsvägen in Norrby decided to replace the old stone staircase with a more modern one. It was hard work and they left the removed stones nearby for a while. Then, a few weeks later early in the evening the light hit one of the stones and revealed part of an inscription that no one had noticed before. The local archaeologist was soon there for a closer look. And it was exciting news for Roger Wikell and his colleagues as the stone turned out to be a runestone from the Viking Era one Millennia ago! I had a look at the stone together with my friend Jim on Sunday, but couldn't see anything. The owner of the property, Mikael, told us what the archaeologists had been able to see and that included a name, Hialmviðr and also a cross. The stone had been cut to fit in the stairway a few centuries ago, so two thirds of the original runestone is still missing. Now we are waiting for the Swedish National Heritage Board to have a look and maybe clean the stone up and fill in the cross and the inscription with red paint, and then place it by the side of the road with an explanatory sign next to it as is the norm in cases like this. When that happens I will go back for a photo of the stone. A photo and some info in Swedish about the find here: goo.gl/xgCFwC
1 comment:
That's cool!
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