I now have a 40 page introductory booklet, on the Kensington Runestone with the most up to date information available.
NEW: The Kensington Runestone is in Stockholm at the Museum of National Antiquities. It is finally being considered as a serious object of study. Click here for opening remarks by the US ambassador to Sweden.
NEW: Statement on the motivation motivation of the presumed 14th century explorers in carving the stone
NEW:The author of this website was recently interviewed by Ripsaw News, a weekly newspaper from Duluth, MN. Here is an unedited transcript of that interview.
OLD: (but recently found on line)"The Riddle of the Kensington Stone, Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 221, August 21, 1948. A nice article about the time the KRS was displayed at the Smithsonian.
NEW (7/4/01): A summary of Dr. Richard Nielsen's article on the linguistics of the KRS published in the Spring 2001 issue of Scandinavian Studies.
NEW (7/3/01): Link to an article by Scott Wolter on the testing done by American Petorgraphic Services in Oct of 2000. Note in particular the 500x Scanning Electron Microscope photographs comparing the mica deterioration in the core sample to that from the inscibed surface.
NEW: An Janey Westin with 15 years experienc cutting inscriptions on stone examines the KRS
NEW and IMPORTANT: A symposium on the Kensington Runestone was recently held at the Midwest Archeological Conference, with the latest info on the runestone. Click here for a summary. This includes info on the latest geophysical examination of the runestone.
New: Finally, a links page
NEW:annotated Bibliography of Primary Sources used in my research. Other material under construction.
UPDATED Mar 30,2001 - the Smithsonian replies: Letter to the Smithsonian Intitution regarding 37 errors about the Kensington Runestone found in their recent publication on the Vikings.
A LITTE SOMETHING FOR THE EGO: This very site was cited as a source for information on the Kensington Runestone in James Enterline's scholarly work "Erikson, Eskimos & Columbus". I am placed side by side with Robert Hall's "The Kensington Runestone: Authentic and Important".
Columbus sailed the ocean blue
but Knutson took the royal knorr
a hundred thirty years before
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"In presenting this report for historical record, THE JOURNAL OF AMERICAN HISTORY suggests that a board of archaeologists from the various American learned societies, under the direction of the Minnesota Historical Society, with the co-operation of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, hold a court of inquiry before which may be placed the entire evidence. The alternate rejection and acceptance of the antiquity of the Kensington runestone requires that it be given a verdict by such a judiciary."
In November of 1898, a stone was discovered near Kensington, MN inscribed with strange markings which were later found to be ancient Norse runes. When deciphered, these runes revealed the story of an ill fated expedition to the area which occurred in 1362. A translation reads:
[on the front of the stone]
8 Goths and 22 Norwegians on discovery voyage from Vinland over (the) west we had camp by 2 skerries one days journey north from this stone we were and fishe(ed) one day after we came home found 10 men red with blood and dead A(ve) V(irgo) M(aria) preserve from evil [on the side of the stone] have 10 men by the seas to see after our ship(s) 14 day-journeys from this island year 1362(translation by Prof. Robert Hall)
Since that time, a great deal of controversy has raged about the stone, both pro and con. For a while in the late '40s, it was overwhelmingly considered authentic and was displayed in the halls of the Smithsonian Institution. At other times it has been considered a forgery, a hoax developed in a predominantly Swedish area during a strong outbreak of Swedish pride.
I have personally been researching the Kensington Rune Stone (or KRS) since Spring of 1998, spending numerous hours at the Minnesota Historical Society, and getting into long discussions about the stone on the sci.archaealogy newsgroup. This site has come about mainly as a result of those discussions, correcting misinformation and adding long articles drawn from original sources.
I cannot claim that I have no bias in this. I believe, based on my investigations, on the authenticity of the stone. While I have attempted here to place on the Internet record as much unedited material as I can (I abhor 'sound bite' references, taking a small piece of some larger record to support an idea), the commentary is focused far more on showing the authenticity of the stone, rather than on what faults may exist.
A picture of the side of the runestone, tweaked to highten the image of the runes.
Introduction (still under construction)
Historical Background
The evidence of an expedition in 1362 to the Hudson Bay area and points south.
Finding the Rune Stone
Events surrounding the finding of the Stone in 1898, and the subsuquent investigations in 1899 and in 1909.
LINGUISTICS
A look at the complex issue of the linguistics of the inscription, focusing mainly on the most recent interpetations by Hall and Nielsen.
Documents
full text of some documents pertaining to the KRS (in progress)
NEW: To keep updated on the investigations, or to comment on the Kensington and other stones, please visit my Yahoo Club: America's Runestones Thank You.
Michael Zalar
179 E. Thompson Ave #1
West St. Paul, MN 55118
651-457-8860
m_zalar@hotmail.com
© 1997 m_zalar@hotmail.com
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