Viking Age Rune Stones in Scandinavia: The Interplay between Oral Monumentality and Commemorative Literacy

Memories Carved in Stones? Collective Memory Studies and Early Scandinavian Rune-Stones, or Remarks on the Banalities of “Burial-Stones”

“…If we thus start by looking at the socialness of rune-stones, as previously stated, the collective and cultural dimension of rune-stones may appear obvious on several levels as they form messages, media, and contexts that were publicly displayed and prominently placed in landscapes and social spaces. These stones were loaded with textual and non-textual deixis, which has been discussed largely only for Late-Viking-Age stone inscriptions (Jesch 1998, 464;Zilmer), and certain types of early formula. Additionally, the understanding of these predominantly short reference-specific messages-with their many nomina propria, titles, and epithets-presupposes collective knowledge and traditions.…”

“…All this could indicate that ideas about rune-stones based on Late-Viking-Age examples usually had the major lead. There, Old Norwegian, Old Danish, and Old Swedish cognates to "after" are prominently found and are more likely to have formed a rune-stone culture influenced by Christian memoria (Düwel 2013;Zilmer). But can such interpretations of eleventh-century stones be applied back in time on cases being possibly up to five hundred years older if not more?…”

European and Scandinavian Research on Literacy

“…49 Secondly, whereas previous scholarship tended to depict runic and latin literacies as two separate forms of communi cation, more recent research has put the use of runes into their func tional context, 50 while at the same time emphasising the interaction between the multiple literacies (Knirk 1994:207; Schulte forthcom ing). Consequently, runic literacy is no longer regarded as an insular phenomenon operating according to its own rules, but is considered to be part of the general textualisation of society (Stoklund 2000:86;Jesch 2001:11;Brink 2005:86;Zilmer 2010). This relates especially to the new types of runes that appeared in urban environments, such as calendars, runestones, letters and runebooks (Söderberg 1994b:50; see also Garrison 1999).…”