Runestone from Alstad

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Runestone from Alstad

The runestone of Alstad ( Norwegian Alstadstenen , with the inscriptions N 61 and N 62) is a Norwegian runestone from the late 10th century with rich decorations in the Ringerike style . It is in the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo and comes from Hof ​​Alstad, northeast of the hamlet of Lena in the municipality of Østre Toten near Raufoss in the south of Oppland .

The Alstadstein is about 2.7 high, 40 cm wide and 13 cm thick. The elongated rune stone made of red sandstone is provided on both broad sides with pictures in the Ringerike style and with two different old inscriptions that can be read from bottom to top.

The older inscription says that Jórunnr raised the stone after her husband.

Between 1050 and 1075 a new horizontal, three-line inscription in truncated runes (with dotted runes) was added under the images on the front. This says that Engli erected the stone after his son Thóraldr, who perished in Vitaholmr (White Holm) between Ustaholm and Gardarike . Vitaholm is considered the old name for Kiev and Gardar was the old name for Russia . This makes the stone one of the 30 or so Gardarike or Varangian rune stones .

The stone is first mentioned in 1600 when it was in front of the main building of the farm. Around 1830 it was damaged by a falling tree which broke the stone at the bottom of the base. It was repaired, rebuilt, and photographed in 1854. In 1913 the stone came into the History Museum and stood at the entrance of the History Museum for many years.

A bird of prey flies up on the face of the stone. A dog, horse and rider are depicted under the bird. One with a bird on hand. The horses and dogs in the picture move from right to left. All animals are in profile and easy to see. The representation was interpreted as a hunting scene .

The German archaeologist Peter Paulsen (1902–1985), who was controversial because of his Nazi past , associated the falcon symbol with the Rurikid dynasty in Russia and the Varangian Guard in Byzantium .

literature

  • Jörn Jacobs: Peter Paulsen. A wanderer between the worlds , in Achim Leube (Hrsg.): Prehistory and National Socialism. Central and East German Prehistory and Early History Research in the years 1933–1945 , Heidelberg 2002, pp. 451–459.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Inscription: "iurun ¤ rais (t) i [¤] s (t) ain ¤ þina ¤ af (t) ir [¤] au-aun ¤ is ¤ (h) ana ¤ - (t) i [¤ ] auk ¤ furþi ¤ af ¤ hrikariki ¤ u (t) an ¤ ur ulb¤aui- "and" × auk ¤ (m) unta¤stain ¤ ---- ir ¤ þusi × ", text after Terje Spurkland, Norwegian Runes and Runic Inscriptions , Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2005, p. 101 ISBN 1-84383-186-4
  2. ↑ Inscription: " × ikli × reisti stein þana eftir × þoral ... sun sin is uarþ tauþr × i uitahol (m) (i) miþli u (i) taulms auk karþa × ", text according to N 62