Heavener Runestone
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 Heavener runestone with the runes copied above. |
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| Name | Heavener Runestone |
| Country |  United States |
| Region | Poteau Mountain |
| City/Village | Heavener, Oklahoma |
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Text - Native |
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| Elder Futhark | |
| Text - English | |
| Other resources | |
| Runestones - Runic alphabet Runology - Runestone styles |
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The Heavener Runestone is an inscribed stone found in Heavener, Oklahoma claimed by some to be a runestone. The stone is located on Poteau Mountain just outside the town's limits. There is much speculation as to the origin and meaning of the stone's runic carvings, and it is such an attraction that a state park has been erected around it.
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[edit] Inscription hypotheses
Local author Gloria Farley attributed the inscription to wandering pre-Columbian Norsemen.[1] However, the inscription has been rejected by Scandinavian philologists and runologists, who consider it to be modern (19th or 20th century). The reading of the "Elder Futhark" style runes should probably be "GNOMEDAL" (meaning "Gnome Valley", or perhaps a personal name "G. Nomedal").
One difficulty facing those who would use the Heavener Runestone to demonstrate that Viking explorers visited the area is that only six of the eight characters are correct Elder Futhark runes. A transliteration would read "G [rough backwards N] O M E D A [backwards L]". Another problem is that the Elder Futhark had become obsolete by the 8th century, which was long before the Viking expeditions to Greenland and Vinland.
The first proposed explanation, by Alf Monge in 1967[2] is that the letters represent an elaborate cryptogram, using three runic alphabets, that decodes to "November 11, 1012".
In recent years, this idea has lost ground among local defenders in favor of the engineer Dr. Richard Nielsen's proposal [3] that a Viking explorer hastily reversed the last letter and substituted a letter from the then-extinct Gothic alphabet in the second position. According to this interpretation, the inscription reads "GLOME DAL" -- the "Valley of Glome".
[edit] Possibilities
- GNOMEDAL - "Gnome Valley"
- G. Nomedal - Name
- GLOME DAL - "Valley of Glome"
- November 11, 1012
- GA OTHALLA MED AT - Beware, among property made for dead one
[edit] Cultural significance
- In 1991, Carl Albert State College in nearby Poteau changed its mascot to the Vikings in the stone's honor.
- Don Coldsmith's 1995 novel Runestone, offers a speculative theory about how an 11th century Viking could have made his way to the area of Heavener.
[edit] Other local stones
Two other, much smaller inscribed stones have been found near Heavener. In the 1970s scholars allegedly translated these stones.
Heavener stone #2 is said to show the letter "R" and a "bind rune". This would be in the Anglo-Saxon character set since in the Norwegian this might be an "M" and a small cross. In the Elder Futhark, this could be an "R"/"Z" or a "T". It has also been given as "25 December, 1015" in Monge's "Norse Code" date system.
Heavener stone #3 is said to show the letters "G", "R" and "T". This could be in the Anglo-Saxon character set since in the Norwegian set this might be an "M", a "T" and the small cross COULD be an "N". In Monge's system (which seems to be applicable to any group of runes) this gives the date "30 December, 1022".
Several other inscribed stones have been found in Oklahoma, one near Poteau, one in Shawnee, and one in Turley north of Tulsa. In fact, the Tulsa area is alleged to have 4 of these runestones along the Arkansas River on Turkey Mountain all with very similar characters, but one was destroyed in the ‘60s, and the specific locations of two others are unknown (see Turkey Mountain inscriptions).
[edit] References
- ^ Farley, Gloria (1994). In plain sight : Old World records in ancient America. Columbus, GA USA: ISAC Press. p. 481. ISBN 1880820080.
- ^ summary by O.G. Landsverk in article about Monges work Oklahoma Today magazine, Summer 1970, page 28
- ^ Richard Nielsen, article in Epigraphic Society Occasional Publications, Vol. 15, 1986, page 133
[edit] External links
- North American Rune Stones
- The Oklahoma Runestones
- The Heavener Runestone
- Heavener Runestone State Park
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