This runic inscription, designated as U Fv1976;104 in the Rundata catalog, is on a

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...

memorial

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones d ...

that is located at the

Uppsala Cathedral Uppsala Cathedral ( sv, Uppsala domkyrka) is a cathedral located between the University Hall of Uppsala University and the Fyris river in the centre of Uppsala, Sweden. A church of the Church of Sweden, the national church, in the Lutheran tra ...

Uppland Uppland () is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. On the small uninhab ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Description

This inscription consists of runic text in the

younger futhark The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet and a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, with only 16 characters, in use from about the 9th century, after a "transitional period" during the 7th and 8th centuries. The ...

that is carved on an intertwined serpent under a small Christian cross. The red granite runestone, which is 1.65 meters in height and 1.64 meters wide, was discovered in May 1975 during excavation work at the Hornska chapel at the Uppsala Cathedral. pp. 104-106. Before the historical nature of runestones was understood, they were often reused as materials in the construction of roads, bridges, and buildings. The runestone is classified as being carved in

runestone style :''The term "runestone style" in the singular may refer to the Urnes style.'' The style or design of runestones varied during the Viking Age. The early runestones were simple in design, but towards the end of the runestone era they became increa ...

Pr2, which is also known as

Ringerike style Viking art, also known commonly as Norse art, is a term widely accepted for the art of Scandinavian Norsemen and Viking settlements further afield—particularly in the British Isles and Iceland—during the Viking Age of the 8th-11th centuries ...

. This is the classification for inscriptions where the runic bands end in serpent or beast heads seen in profile, but the serpents or beasts are not as elongated and stylized as in the

Urnes style Viking art, also known commonly as Norse art, is a term widely accepted for the art of Scandinavian Norsemen and Viking settlements further afield—particularly in the British Isles and Iceland—during the Viking Age of the 8th-11th centurie ...

. The runic text states that three sons raised the stone in memory of their father, Vígmarr, who is described as being ''styrimann goðan'' or "a good captain." A ''styrimann'' is a title often translated as "captain" and describes a person who was responsible for navigation and watchkeeping on a ship. This term is also used in inscriptions on Sö 161 in Råby, U 1011 in Örby, U 1016 in

Fjuckby Fjuckby () is a village in Uppsala Municipality, Uppsala County, Sweden, located about 15 km (9.3 km) north of the central city Uppsala along European route E4. The village has a population of 65 people (as of 2000) within an area of ...

, and

DR 1 DR1 (DR Et) is the flagship television channel of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR). It became Denmark's first television station when it began broadcasting in 1951 – at first only for an hour a day three times a week. Besides its ...

Hedeby Hedeby (, Old Norse ''Heiðabýr'', German ''Haithabu'') was an important Danish Viking Age (8th to the 11th centuries) trading settlement near the southern end of the Jutland Peninsula, now in the Schleswig-Flensburg district of Schleswig-Holst ...

. Part of the stone has been damaged with a word missing from the middle of the runic text, but based upon other inscriptions the missing word is likely to be the infinitive verb ''haggva'', or "cut." The text is signed by a runemaster named Likbjörn. There are two other inscriptions known to have been signed by Likbjörn, the now-lost U 1074 in Bälinge and U 1095 in Rörby, although others have been attributed to him based on stylistic analysis. The Rundata designation for this Uppland inscription, U Fv1976;104, refers to the year and page number of the issue of ''

Fornvännen ''Fornvännen'' ("The Friend of the Distant Past"), ''Journal of Swedish Antiquarian Research'' is a Swedish academic journal in the fields of archaeology and Medieval art. It is published quarterly by the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History ...

'' in which the runestone was first described.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:rikr * ok * hulti * fastkair * þaiʀ * litu * ...a stain * at * uikmar * faþur * sin * styriman * koþan : likbiarn * ristiProject Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
- Rundata entry for U Fv1976;104.

Transcription into Old Norse

:''Rikʀ/Rinkʀ/Ringʀ ok Hulti kFastgæiʀʀ þæiʀ letu ... stæin at Vigmar, faður sinn, styrimann goðan. Likbiorn risti.''

Translation in English

:Ríkr/Rekkr/Hringr and Holti and Fastgeirr, they had ... the stone in memory of Vígmarr, their father, a good captain. Líkbjôrn carved.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uppland Runic Inscription Fv1976104 1975 archaeological discoveries Runestones in Uppland