Poster by Marjolein Stern about her doctoral research project, presented at The 7th International Symposium on Runes and Runic Inscriptions, Oslo 2010. See the final Thesis (Univsersity of Nottingham, 2013) here: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/14291/

1. Social context
The Viking‐Age custom of carving
runestones fits in the tradi;on of crea;ng
large, costly monuments for someone’s
death that featured prominently in the
landscape as mounds and stone se@ngs
and in cultural memory as furnished graves.
Images on runestones include objects (e.g.
ships, wagons), aHributes (e.g. weapons)
and animals (e.g. horses, dogs, birds) that
were used as grave goods. This suggests
that certain images func;oned in the
same context of commemora;on and
status‐display as the objects in graves.
Cogni;ve context
When inscrip;ons and images are
combined, pictures make an earlier and
stronger impression on viewers than text.1
Five inscrip;ons that use ráða in the
meaning ‘interpret’ explicitly refer to the
runes as needing interpreta;on,2 but in six
others this possibly also concerns other
aspects of design or the whole runestone.3 CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTS OF VIEWING IMAGES
The seeing‐in model on representa;on
theory explains that viewers will think
about a scene when perceiving a picture,
and experience this as a single process.4
The vocabulary in four skaldic poems which
refer to images also gives the impression
that these prompted the viewer to recall
and recount the related narra;ves.5
Such images possibly resembled those on
the remains of Viking‐Age hangings from
Överhogdal and Oseberg, which
represent mul;ple stories. The similar
images on runestones could also have
evoked stories in the observer's mind.
Other poems show that mul;ple stories
could relate to the praised person, rather
than to each other.6
Introduc;on
Ca 10 % of the roughly 3000 Viking‐Age
runestones found in Scandinavia are
decorated with figural images of human
figures, animals, ships, etc.
RESEARCH QUESTION
Were the images part of a general method
of visual communica;on employed on
runestones and how did they func;on?
VISUAL ANALYSIS: IMPRESSIONS & QUESTIONS
• Images are generally more
prominent in the design than the
text, both in size and posi;on.
• Because one‐to‐one rela;onships
between images and inscrip;on‐
elements cannot be discerned it seems
images communicate not only in
another way than the inscrip;ons, but
also a different kind of informa;on.
• Do inscrip;ons on stones with certain
images contain more ojen informa;on
addi;onal to the memorial formula,
like a carver‐signature, a prayer or
invoca;on, or informa;on about the
commemorated person’s life or death?
Visual Communication on
Viking­Age Runestones
Marjolein Stern
aexms5@nottingham.ac.uk
REFERENCES
1 Ann Marie Barry, “Percep;on Theory”, in Handbook of
Visual Communica5on, ed. by Ken Smith et al. (2005),
pp. 45‐62.
2 U 11 Hovgården, U 729 Ågersta, U 847 Västeråkers k:a,
U Fv1959;196 Hammarby k:a, Vg 119 Sparlösa.
3 Öl 58 Böda k:a, Sö 213 Nybble, U 29 Hillersjö, U 328
Lundby, U 887 Skillsta, U 1167 Ekeby.
4 Keith Kenney, “Representa;on Theory”, in Handbook of
Visual Communica5on, ed. by Ken Smith et al. (2005),
pp. 99‐115 (111).
5 Úlfr Uggason’s Húsdrápa, Bragi Boddasons’ Ragnarsdrápa
and Þórr's Fishing, and Þjóðólfr ór Hvíni’s Haustlǫng.
6 Illugi bryndœlaskáld’s Digt om Haraldr harðráði; Kormákr
Ǫgmundarson’s Sigurðardrápa; Þorfinnr munnr’s Lausavísur.
Vs 17 Råby
The ship is visible
long before the
inscrip5on can
be read.
What did this
ship mean for
Holmsteinn, who :
let : resa : mer[ki :
e-ir : .frit :
gonu : sina : ok :
i-ir] : sik : selfan :
(had the
landmark raised
in memory of
Tíðfríðr, his wife,
and in memory
of himself)?
Supervised by Prof. Judith Jesch and Dr Christina Lee
Sö 213 Nybble. Photo: Christer Hamp 2007 www.christerhamp.se/runor
Example of axe‐burial.
Ajer G. Trotzig, “An axe
as sign of rank in a Viking
community,” Archaeolo‐
gy and Environment 4
(1985), pp. 83‐87 (84).
DR 282 Hunnestad
Drawing: Ole Worm,
Monumenta Danica
Överhogdalsbonaderna fragment. Photo: www.jamtli.com
Raþi : saR : kuni (Interpret who can!) at the end of this
inscrip5on could refer back to the whole monument:
stain […] s.ntn : at : uitum : bat : miþ : runum (the
stone, painted as a marker, bound with runes).
Par5cular burial types with riding equipment (and/or horses) and weapons such as swords and spears on the one
hand and non‐equestrian graves with an axe as only weapon on the other can be dis5nghuished in various
Scandinavian regions. There is a similar divide among the images of human figures with weapons on runestones:
longsha[ed axes are the sole aribute of standing men on Sö 190 Yerenhörna and DR 282 Hunnestad, while
swords and spears are largely held by figures on horseback on Vg 119 Sparlösa, U 678 Skokloster, U 691 Söderby, U
855 Böksta, and U 1161 Altuna and occur in combina5on with each other on Ög 181 Ledberg.
Vg 119
Sparlösa
U 1161 Altuna
Example of burial with horse,
dog and various weapons, incl.
sword. Ajer K. Kjallmark, “EH
graffält från den yngre järn‐
åldern i Ås i Jämtland,” Ymer
(1905), pp. 351‐372 (365).