Västra Strö stone circle

Stones by Västra Strö, 1628, after Ole Worm

The stone circle of Västra Strö (also Tulestenarna ) is a system of seven upright stones from the Viking Age (around 850 to 1050) in the parish of Västra Strö, northwest of the town of Eslöv in the Swedish province of Skåne län . The stones were arranged in a circle on a hill.

Rune stones

Two of the stones were inscribed with runes ( Västra Ströstenen 1 and 2 ). A man's face was also depicted on a stone ( masked stone ). The inscriptions were in the RAK style , the oldest form of arrangement of the runes. The runes were scratched in straight text bands with straight ends, without ornaments or pictorial representations. The words were separated by colons. The inscriptions were made by the same rune master , probably between 960 and 1050.

• Västra Strö
• 
• 

  Stones from Västra Strö

• 
• 

  Runestone DR 334

• 

  Runestone DR 335, inscription and mask

Inscriptions

DR 334

faþi R  : lit: hukua: runa R  : þisi: ufti R  : osur: bruþur: sin: is: nur: uarþ: tuþr: i: uikiku:

German

Faðir had these runes scratched in memory of Özurr, his brother, who died in the north on a Viking (journey).

DR 335

faþi R  : lit: hukua: stin: þan (s) i: ufti R  : biurn: is: skib: ati: miþ: anum:

German

Faðir had this stone carved in memory of Björn who owned a ship with him.

Discovery story

The complex was described in the 17th century by the Danish antiquarian Ole Worm , who found the inscriptions in good condition. This was no longer the case in 1876 when all but one of the stones had fallen over. The monument was restored in 1932. When the stones were erected in 1932, the image of the mask was discovered on the rune stone DR 335. This motif can also be found on some other rune stones in Sweden and Denmark.

See also

• Hunnestad Monument

literature

• S. Oehrl: On the interpretation of anthropomorphic and theriomorphic image representations on the late Viking rune stones in Sweden . Vienna Studies in Scandinavian Studies, Vol. 16. (Vienna 2006).

Web links

• Västra Strö 2: 3 - entry in the database "Fornsök" des Riksantikvarieämbetet (Swedish)
• Västra Strö 2: 4 - entry in the database "Fornsök" des Riksantikvarieämbetet (Swedish)
• Inscriptions on rundata

Remarks

1. ↑ Old Norse legend:

   Faþi R let hoggwa runa R þæssi æfti R Azur, broþur sin, æs nor warþ døþr i wikingu.

2. ↑ Old Norse legend:

   Faþi R let hoggwa sten þænsi æfti R Biorn, æs skip atti mæþ hanum.

Coordinates: 55 ° 52 ′ 33.6 "  N , 13 ° 14 ′ 34.8"  E