Alstadsteinen runestone Carving : The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map:

<< Our Photo Pages >> Alstadsteinen runestone - Carving in Norway in Oppland

Submitted by kenntha88 on Wednesday, 27 September 2017 Page Views: 1357

Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: Alstadsteinen runestone
Country: Norway Fylke: Oppland Type: Carving
Nearest Town: Raufoss Nearest Village: Lena
Latitude: 60.682795N Longitude: 10.821147E
Condition:

5	Perfect
4	Almost Perfect
3	Reasonable but with some damage
2	Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1	Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0	No data.
-1	Completely destroyed

1 Ambience:

5	Superb
4	Good
3	Ordinary
2	Not Good
1	Awful
0	No data.

4 Access:

5	Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4	Short walk on a footpath
3	Requiring a bit more of a walk
2	A long walk
1	In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0	No data.

5 Accuracy:

5	co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4	co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3	co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2	co-ordinates of the nearest village
1	co-ordinates of the nearest town
0	no data

5

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Runestone in Oppland

Alstadsteinen runestone is one of the most well known runestones and picture stones in Norway. The runestone stood (nowadays at Oslo Historic Museum) at a farm called Alstad in Østre Toten kommune in Oppland. It is one of the few runestones with two separate inscriptions.

The stone is first mentioned in 1600s when it was located in front of the farms main building. Once around 1830 it was damaged by a falling log that broke off the stone at the bottom of the base. The stone was laying down for a while, but there was a lot of sickness and misfortune with the cattle, and this was associated with the broken stone. It was repaired with iron straps and put back up into place, and it was photographed in 1854. In 1913, the stone was incorporated into the history museum and stood for many years in the entrance of the Historical Museum.

The stone is 2,7 metres in height, around 40cm wide and only about 13cm thick. The inscriptions are found along the narrower part from bottom to top and one at the wider flat side, this one believed to be the youngest of the two. The stone is made in red sandstone. The stone is believed to be from the late 900s.

At the front of the stone, one bird of prey is flying upwards, under the bird is a dog, then a horse without rider and then a rider with a bird in his hand. The bird and the dog is carved almost on top of each other. Under the horse is another dog, under the dog another horse without rider and at the bottom a horse with rider. Horses and dogs are moving from right to left in the image. All the animals are in profile and made easy to see. The scene has been interpreted as a hunting scene.

The longest runic inscription going along the narrow side is believed to be the oldest. It has been translated as "Jorunn erected this stone in memory of .... that was married to her and she brought it here from Ringerike, from Ulvøy, and the picture stone honours them both."

The youngest runic inscription is found lower down on one of the flat sides under the pictures. It has been translated to: "Engle erected this stone after Torald his son, who found his death in Vitaholm, between Vitaholm and Gardar."

Vitaholm is believed to be an old name for Kiev and Gardar was the old name for Russia. The stone is on exhibition in the history museum in Oslo and can be viewed there. I have put the original finding place in the site page.
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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
385m ESE 103° Alfstadhaug-Totenvegen* Stone Circle
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3.2km ESE 102° Balkeenga* Round Barrow(s)
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13.1km NNE 20° Ousdal Nordre* Barrow Cemetery
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