Viking 4-2003 December
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VV king king HeritageHeritagemagazine 4/2003 DESTINATION VIKING Viking Heritage Magazine 4/03 Editorial IN THIS ISSUE Vikings in North America – New and Old 3–9 Dear Readers, About the Kensington Runestone 10–11 WELCOME TO THE LAST ISSUE OF THE YEAR! DESTINATION VIKING This time the theme of Vikings in North America is in focus and I am Vikings in the New World 12–13 sure you will find plenty of interesting reading. I would like to call Destination Viking special attention to Birgitta Linderoth Wallace’s article, Vikings in North Baltic Stories 14–15 America – New and Old, dealing with the many alleged Viking finds Reproducing tools 16–18 “over there”. And of course you will find articles about the much- A Northern Periphery project discussed Kensington Runestone, in the headlines right now, exhibited South Greenland 19–21 and investigated by leading experts in Sweden. Norstead, Canada 22 The Vikings travelled and expanded in all directions and as usual we The Leif Eriksson Runestone 23 follow their example of being curious and eager to explore something new. Take a look at the beautiful spoons from Poland and participate in International Viking Legacy Symposium in Philadelphia 23 the manners and customs of diet and table-service in Wolin. Don’t miss the exciting article about Viking-age horse graves in Lithuania, either. VIKING FORUM 24 I also would like to inform you that Maj-Britt Andersson, who has Diet and tableware in Wolin 25–27 been responsible for subscriptions from the start, has retired. Thank you Viking-age Horse Offerings in Maj-Britt for the great job you’ve done keeping all our members and the Lithuania 28–31 administration in good order! A replica of the Gokstad Faering 32–33 And last but not at least, to all of you from all of us, International courses 34 Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year! NEW BOOK 36–37 Marita E Ekman Editor Heritage News Email: [email protected] HERITAGE NEWS 38 WORLDLINESS The traveller must train his wits. All is easy at home. He who knows little is a laughing stock amongst men of the world. From Hávámal (Words from “The High One”) Drawing by Lou Harrison, [email protected] About the front page The Leif Eriksson rune stone, raised at L’Anse aux Meadows on July 28, 2000. Read more on page 23. Photo: Kalle Runristare Miljömärkt med Svanen. Lic nr 341 487 http://viking.hgo.se 2 Viking Heritage Magazine 4/03 Vikings in North America – New and Old Part 1 By Birgitta Linderoth Wallace North Americans have harboured a special fascination with Vikings for over a century. The interest is not scholarly but a popular preoccupation with the image of Vikings as freedom-seeking adventurers and pioneers, aggressive, strong, handsome, and bold, always exploring new horizons, the ideal of a man. In many ways this represents the male ethos in white America, which explains why the topic of Vikings is especially popular among American men. Big Ole. A giant Viking heralds Reputed Norse finds in the Kensington runestone and North America. Map by J. The allure of the Vikings is old in other alleged medieval Ertzman and B. Wallace. America. It dates back to 1837 and 1838 Norse finds in Alexandria, Revised by P. D’agnan. when the Vinland sagas became accessible Minnesota. outside Scandinavia, translated first into Photo by Kate Yorston. Latin, then in English. The man behind the work was Carl Christian Rafn, Secretary of the Danish National Antiquarian Society. Speculations as to where the Norse would have landed began immediately. Rafn himself settled on the Taunton River-Mount Hope Bay area of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Ever since then, New England has been assumed by many to be legendary Vinland. Among the antiquities believed by Rafn to be Norse were the Newport Tower in Rhode Island, which he believed was a medieval round church, and the Dighton Rock in Fall River, Massachusetts, thought to have a runic inscription. The tower has since been shown to date to the 1600s, and the Dighton Rock to be a native American rock carving. With the stream of Scandinavians 3 http://viking.hgo.se Viking Heritage Magazine 4/03 settling in Minnesota and oblivion” and published a book on surrounding states from the 1850s the stone in which he declared that on, the quest for Vikings migrated the inscription was genuine. The to the Middlewest. National Scandinavian scholars were wrong. Romanticism flourished in the Holand devoted much of his life to Scandinavian homelands, and the promotion of his views on the Vikings represented their glorious stone, producing five full-length past. It was this view of history the books, and innumerable newspaper immigrants brought with them. articles and lectures. His work New publications of the Vinland received much attention. sagas appeared in English and In 1908 first the Norwegian Norwegian in the 1880s, and, in Society of Minneapolis, then a 1893, Captain Magnus Anderson prominent Scandinavian philologist sailed a replica of the Gokstad ship at the University of Illinois, George to New York, with much fanfare and T. Flom, and finally the state- publicity, heightening the Viking sponsored Minnesota Historical frenzy. Society launched investigations into the finding circumstances of the The Kensington stone stone, and the personality of its In November (or August) 1898 a finder. While the Norwegian sensational find was made. On a Society believed that the inscription farm at Kensington in central might be genuine, Professor Flom Minnesota, a Swedish immigrant concluded that it was modern in stone mason-turned-farmer found a language as well as in runes. The runestone embedded in the roots of official verdict of the Minnesota a tree. The farmer was Olaf Ohman, Historical Society was that its an immigrant from Forsa in authenticity could not be proven. A Hälsingland, Sweden. Local people The Kensington stone. Photo by B. Wallace. geologist as well as others who came to see the stone and the stump examined the stone, commented on of the tree, which had grown over it. the freshness of the rune cuts. Translations were soon printed in Undaunted, Holand continued Svenska Amerikanska Posten, his work, over the years publishing Skandinaven, and the Minnesota what he presented as corroborating Journal. finds such as axes, spears, and In late February 1899 the stone swords, and sites where the Norse was shipped by train to Professor ship supposedly had been moored. George Curme of the Department His work has been taken seriously of Germanic Languages at by many and is frequently cited as Northwestern University in proof that the Norse penetrated the Evanston, Illinois. As the train Middlewest. approached, the Chicago By now, there are innumerable newspapers heralded the sensational claims for evidence of Norse find, and Professor Curme’s penetration into North America: excitement. His excitement turned more than 50 sites, over 100 into disappointment as soon as he inscriptions, and about 75 artifacts. saw the stone. The inscription, In the 1960s, I was assigned by which bore the date 1362, was Carnegie Museum of Natural written in modern Swedish, not History to make a systematic medieval, and the runes were more investigation of all these sites, similar to 18th and 19th – century inscriptions, and artifacts, a study than medieval Swedish runes. The that I have kept relatively à jour cuts were fresh, breaking through with later developments in this the weathered surface of the stone. field. When I began my study, I was However, to make sure that his aware that a similar investigation Svenska Amerikanska Posten 28 February 1899. observations were correct, Curme The headline was “A Curious Antiquity Find in had been published in 1951 had the stone photographed and Minnesota.” Clipping courtesy Minnesota Historical (English version in 1954) by sent the photographs to the most Society. Professor Johannes Brøndsted, then eminent Norse scholars and Director of the Danish National runologists of the day, among them Adolf Museum. I deliberately did not consult it, Noreen in Sweden, Ludwig Wimmer in The stone was returned to its finder. until I had viewed all the evidence myself. Denmark, Gustaf Storm and Sophus There it rested until 1908, when a young The following is a representative selection Bugge in Norway. The unanimous verdict Norwegian-born amateur historian by the of the purported evidence. was that the inscription was modern. name of Hjalmar Holand “rescued it from http://viking.hgo.se 4 Viking Heritage Magazine 4/03 Knowledge of runes Knowledge of runes in Scandinavia after the Middle Ages is not as esoteric one might imagine. Writing with runes persisted. Runes continued to be used in certain areas of Sweden and Norway throughout the 19th century, particularly in Älvdalen, Dalarna, not far from Ohman’s home community of Forsa. Runic calendars such as this 1884 example now in Mora Museum, Dalarna, were in use until modern times. Some of the Kensington runes, such as ‘X’ for ‘A’ are characteristic of these late runic letters. There was also a romantic interest in runes and runestones, evident in a runestone from Frösön, Sweden, erected in 1835 with the inscription: Den XXVII augusti MDCCCXXXV konung Carl XIV The Ohman farm. Photo by B. Wallace. Johan helsade här Jemtlands krigare (On the 27th of August 1835 King Carl XIV Johan here greeted the warriors of New Petrographic Studies Unlike many of his neighbours, he was Jämtland). In the year 2000 the stone was subjected an avid reader and subscribed to Svenska Lately the Kensington inscription has to a new petrographic study by Scott Amerikanska Posten, which regularly received a new army of enthusiasts Wolters, a private geologist in St.