NorsePlay Investigates: The Heavener Runestone.
Yet if the Norse traveled east to the Black Sea, maybe even further into Asia via the spice roads, why not the same reach past Leif's Camp in Newfoundland and extending into America via coastal circumnavigation, rivers, and portages?
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| [detail from park sign with proposed river route & location.] |
So I, as a proactive Investigative Norse Mythologist, used this legendary stickpin from my Map Of Midgard Project data to go take a firsthand look at the contested Heavener Runestone.
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| [runes with me for scale.] |
Objective Observations: Out in small vale of the wilderlands of Heavener stands a 9' x 9' x 2' slab of sandstone, like a huge billboard facing west. From the collapsed layers of rock behind it, it seems to have detached and neatly planted itself upright in the earth. Whether that's incidental, or it was raised, or detached by force, and even possibly carved first then erected, one can't say, but I would guess the first of these. In terms of context the westward facing would imply people coming in from that direction, though the stone's edges are in-line with the slope of the valley that instead opens to the north, but if it provided the best available canvas to carve then most people would go for the easiest useable large surface.
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| [from the park's informational signage.] |
The single line of runes most likely reads Glomedal, meaning Glome's Dale, making it a property marker (though this is up for debate).
There's Elder Futhark with one Younger Futhark character, which has its own dating implications for transitional period runes, but it could also be an outlier, or just some errant syntax, especially given the errors found in many runestones and the time's lack of a strictly enforced grammar.
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| [looking down into the dale at the runestone's enclosure house, note the running Coal Creek as an available inland water source.] |
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| [view E from the hilltop toward a standing lake. From that one might guess that the Arkansas River might've had a larger network that perhaps made this dale closer to a water landing in the past.] |
The area just above the dale itself commands a sweeping view of the valley & its surroundings, and given Native populations, perhaps that was just good defensive planning.
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| [the purported Viking Cave area.] |
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| [closeup of the Viking Cave sign.] |
Subjective Observations: Aside from some in museums, this is the first runestone I've encountered in situ, so outside of interior displays, many photos in my extensive personal library of Norse Studies books, some academic papers on runestones, expert/tourist videos featuring runestones, and exposure to hundreds of jpegs online, that's my background, so what I think here isn't the end-all be-all, nor is it a hill I stubbornly & intractably want to die on. And, as I always say, go do your own homework and figure out what you think for yourself.
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| [sequential closeups of the runes themselves.] |
My bottom line, after going there and getting a very hard look, is that it's probably real. I say that with an 80% feeling of assurance, reserving that last 20% depending on the find of just one other onsite discovery to corroborate its legitimacy. Like, a ship's iron nail would do it for me, but a burial with grave goods would be the best.
The question that begs asking: If the Heavener Runestone's a fraud, why so little effort? Wouldn't you go big with a short story like the one carved into the Kensington Runestone (not to discount the Kensington, just bringing another contested U.S.-based runestone up for comparison)? The spectrum of runestones goes from simple one-liners like this one, to sophisticated multipaneled picturestones, so the Heavener Runestone falls at the first end of those parameters. A hoaxer would probably go for something more impactful and with headline-making splash as opposed to a single word rune row.
Also, let's imagine you're staffing your boat for an expedition far into the unknown West. Are you going to pick the highly-specialized stone carver artisan, or are you going to pick the Viking veteran warrior/sailor for your crew? Yeah, thought so, ergo whatever carving you might have to make will not be on the sophisticated side.
The property marker idea makes sense, whether they're doing it as a ritual landclaiming move for themselves, or as a self-reassurance, or to indicate to previous/current/future Norse explorers/settlers whom the land belongs to, or to Natives/others whom upon seeing such a large rune marked stone would get the intention of it even if they couldn't translate what it said.
One recent facet of shade thrown at Heavener is its being featured on America Unearthed by host Scott Wolter. The show's agenda (and Wolter's bias to support his much larger Templar-bases-in-the-New-World theory) makes one question the motives of his findings, though there are instances where things on the show are found to be modern (like a not-Viking toy axe was).
Given my evaluation, I would recommend LiDAR of the area from Heavener to the Arkansas River done to discern possible longhouse-type foundations, metal detection sweeps at the Viking cave area/vale/hilltop, and GPR scanners around the runestone/Viking cave/hilltop, with digs if/when results from the above look promising. I don't know what the financials of the Heavener Runestone Park's nonprofit organization are and if those efforts are affordable, but it would behoove them to find additional evidences to support their already impressive runestone. If they want to fly me out, get me a high quality metal detector, and put me up for a month, I would be happy to sweep as much as I possibly could in an attempt to find something (hopefully a silver hoard) to help ratify the runestone.
And the deal is even if nothing additional is found, and future atomic-scale examination finds trace embedded modern tool materials to disprove the medieval status of the carving, the Heavener Runestone still serves as a reflection of the modern need of emigrants to connect with their new land, keeping it a neat piece of Americana for that reason alone.
For evaluative reference, the following chart is the Criteria for judging the veracity of inscriptions:
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| [Source: McGlone, et al, 1993, 44] |
And to compare with my above evaluation, University of Uppsala Runic Expert Professor Henrik Williams inversely says that he feels it's only 20% likely to be from the 10th or 11th century CE. Yet if there's a 1-in-5 chance that it's legitimate, then I would say those odds still make the Heavener Runestone's contexts worth further investigation.
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| [kitchy troll sign in the park.] |
[Go see this Map Of Midgard Legendary Site for yourself at 34.90066, -94.57714. NorsePlay would like to give deep thanks to my cousin Mark Ramirez for driving us from OKC out to the stone & back!]
Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants at age seven. Since then he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the Map of Midgard project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. If you have employment/opportunities in investigative mythology, field research, or product development to offer, do contact him.
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