I’ve got me some history MoJo
I was quite surprised to hear that some of you had never heard of rune stones before.
Then I realized just how lucky I was to live in a part of the world with a rich tapestry of history, old buildings (in England) and even older stones (Sweden).
Some of you live in countries where the buildings are fairly new in comparison, and it is not every country (in fact, nearly none at all!) that has stone slabs lying around everywhere like discarded pieces of clothing.
Rune stones are memorials to people who died way back when… The tradition of raising stones goes back back back to the 4th and 5th century, although most stones were raised in the 10th and 11th centuries in Sweden, Denmark and, to some extent, Norway. The fad died out after a couple of generations, except in this district, where it hung on for a hundred more years. (Yup – there were redneck Vikings even then!)
The stone on the left is called U 225, but I usually call him Mo.
I like Mo as he is made of the traditional red granite and is painted with a colourful red. He was raised by two brothers, Arnkell and Gýi (amazing how easily those names just trip off your tongue), to honour their dead father.
This other stone is U 226 – also known as Jo.
Jo was raised by a wife and her family in memory of her husband in the 1010s – same time as Mo more or less. Both were carved by the Runemaster Gunnar. (That’s right – they’re called Runemasters! Great name for a rock band.)
In other words, rune stones are a bigger, older (try a thousand years old) version of a any gravestone that you might see in a cemetery, stating: In loving memory of…
I meet Mo and Jo nearly every day, in rain or shine. They sit there peacefully on the banks of our local lake, enjoying the view of the water and the woods. (Note to self: Do NOT let the dog pee on these historic monuments…) In fact, the whole area where they live is a protected area because of its history.
You can find Mo and Jo around the corner from our house in a place called Arkils Tingstad – or the Assembly location of Arkil. The stones set in a square that you can see nowadays are the remains of a Viking assembly place, probably an outdoor court where justice was delivered. (Mo and Jo are located very near these stones.)
The stones of this assembly place are a great spot for a picnic and the anklebiters love hopping from one to the other while the dog rushes past Jo and Mo without even a hello to jump into the waters of the lake.
I thank you all for demanding this follow-up post as it has really opened up my eyes to the wonder and history on my doorstep.
What surprises are there under your nose, I wonder?
If you want even more fun, then head on over to That’s my World!
Very cool – thanks for the history lesson. Now I’ll have to keep my eyes open in DK for some of these.
May 12, 2009 at 10:28
I live in New England, USA. It’s the oldest part of my country but it’s nowhere near as old as where you live. It’s so interesting to see those stones.
May 12, 2009 at 10:40
Great story of Mo and Jo. We do take these things for granted more often than not! Thanks for sharing.
May 12, 2009 at 10:56
Very interesting. I guess the rune stones used for fortune telling are smaller.
May 12, 2009 at 11:08
They are beautiful. Now for some more ignoramus questions, why runes? Is that the alphabet used at the time?
May 12, 2009 at 11:20
thank you so much for giving us a bit more information on these fascinating stones!! I need to do some investigation and see what we have like that in DK…
May 12, 2009 at 11:58
How cool to be a Rune Master
May 12, 2009 at 12:34
Once when I was in Belgium with a Dutch colleague walking in an older section of town he suddenly said, ‘Hey, see that cobblestone on the ground? It’s older than your country.’ Hundreds or thousands of years ago I probably would have married a rune master. talk about job security!
May 12, 2009 at 12:44
Fascinating post hon….I love learning about things like this!!! Do you know what the actual runes stand for or say?
C x
May 12, 2009 at 12:58
I definitely didn’t know what a rune stone is until I read your blog. Thank you for an INTERESTING post. I’ve looked back at many of your posts and love them. I’ll be back.
May 12, 2009 at 14:06
I really like Mo, although Jo is good too. Mo looks in very good nick!
May 12, 2009 at 14:06
Very cool! I was amazed to see the rune stones in Norway last week since i tend to associate them with Celts.
May 12, 2009 at 14:17
Those are great…I love runes.
May 12, 2009 at 14:43
Thanks for the history lesson! Fascinating stuff!
May 12, 2009 at 14:47
That’s really neat, especially since it’s RIGHT THERE. I love to travel to take in all the history. I once talked to someone from Turkey about how I was a history major, focusing primarily on American history and she said, “What history?” Indeed.
May 12, 2009 at 15:39
Thank you so much for sharing this. These stones and their history are amazing. It’s incredible after all these years that the writing is still so visible. Although, I guess they are made of granite… what a beautiful place you live.
May 12, 2009 at 16:03
This is so cool! Thank you for sharing this history with us.
May 12, 2009 at 16:31
You live in such an amazing place!
May 12, 2009 at 17:00
Very informative. And all this time I’d been thinking they were Moses’ tablets!
May 12, 2009 at 17:07
Fascinating. Thank you for the lesson. What fun for a child to live near this relics – the pretend play, imagination potential… endless! Very cool!
May 12, 2009 at 17:49
Oh ! This was really, really cool, loved this post! Thanks for enlightening us! Right under our noses so to speak..there are probably lots of differences everywhere, but it takes a “new eye” to say..hey what’s up with that!
May 12, 2009 at 18:03
TWM is sitting to my right while we read your post today and incorporate it into our homeschool. THANK YOU SO MUCH for all your research and the personal touch you have added.
This is especially fascinating to “Lord of the Rings” fans. We also play the online version of “The Lord of the Rings” game as a family and you can assume characters there. Bo and I are “Scholars” – she as a “Loremaster” and I as a “Hunter.” They even have a “Runekeeper” class. Now that’s more than you ever wanted to know about online games (MMO’s). Anyway, this REAL stuff suddenly made all that even more interesting. (Oh, but in order to succeed there, you may not have a life, a blog, or a family that likes to eat.)
May 12, 2009 at 18:58
Cool! I had heard of rune stones but rally didn’t know much more!
May 13, 2009 at 00:24
Srry i missed your other post. I love the old Rune stones and have seen a few in my time here and there in Sweden.
I lost all my photos in a fire so it was particularly nice to see yours.
May 13, 2009 at 03:47
I’d love to meet Mo and Jo when I was out walking. Runes aren’t very common in Australia!!!!!
May 13, 2009 at 07:18
Yes interesting knowing more about Mo and jo…
May 13, 2009 at 09:27
It’s obviously the place to go if you lose your mojo (yeah,baby!)
May 13, 2009 at 10:04
That’s so interesting! It’s amazing that they are in such good condition for being so old. I am suggesting Runemasters to my son as a name for his future band! He’s always coming up with different names…
May 13, 2009 at 13:00
Do I even need to TELL you how cool I think this is?
But the idea of a “rock” band called “The Runemasters” is awesome. And amusing. “Rock”? “Stone”? Get it?
(nevermind).
May 13, 2009 at 14:51
Thanks so much for visiting my blog and for your kind comments! I am truly honored!! Again, congrats on POTD! Very well-deserved…you are blogging royalty! ~Janine
May 13, 2009 at 14:57
that’s really cool! very interesting, thank you.
i come from a country with a ‘young’ history (since i’m not native american i suppose i can’t claim that history) but now live in a country with an ancient line…even now we practically live across the street from a kofun, an ancient burial mound in japan. i wonder who was buried there…
May 13, 2009 at 23:38
Maybe you can claim European history then? After all, most pale-skinned Americans probably have an origin somewhere in Europe
November 27, 2009 at 13:48
Answer to Po and Carol: The alphabet used on these stones (and many, many other like them) is called fuþark (or “futhark”, named after the first six letters of the alphabet) and you can read a lot about it in the font of all human knowledge
If one takes the time to work out what they say, then one ends up with a language with is recognizably Scandinavian, even today! I once spent a half hour with such a stone and managed to read it and translate it for my Grandmother who was visiting us at the time. You can bet she was impressed, but not half as much as I was!
May 14, 2009 at 10:01
Wow. Those are amazing. I can’t believe how clear the carvings still are after a thousand years!
I can’t wait to be in Europe and have history like this just around my corner, too.
It is so different than the USA.
May 14, 2009 at 13:44
1,000 years old, thats amazing. Of course Australia is very old and the Aborigines have lots of artefacts and sacred sites. The English settled here not that long ago though so most of our buildings etc are not that old. Thanks for letting us know – it was interesting Lady Fi.
May 16, 2009 at 07:33
Wow!! I am fascinated by the history here in New England and the battle fields from the civil war…. I would love to travel the world to see ancient places and artifacts outside of the USA which seems so ‘new’ compared to the rest of the world!
May 17, 2009 at 16:16
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