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Date: | Thu, 5 Apr 2001 15:03:21 -0700 |
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I grew up in west-central Minnesota, less than an hour from where the "Kensington
Runestone" was discovered. For those unfamiliar with the story, the Kensington
stone was discovered in November 1898 by a Scandinavian farmer named Olof
Ohman. According to legend, Ohman and his son were clearing trees when they
discovered a slab of graywacke wrapped in the roots of an aspen tree. The
stone was covered with a number of "runic" inscriptions which, when deciphered,
offered the incredible story that a small group of Vikings made their way
into central Minnesota some 130 years before Columbus made his first voyage
to the New World. The stone's authenticity has been thoroughly debunked,
but that doesn't deter the true believers.
One day back in the late 1980s, my undergraduate advisor, who has conducted
a good deal of research into the Runestone myth, received a call from a
farmer who claimed to have found an old Viking artifact in his field. After
some conversation, the farmer agreed to make the two hour drive to bring
the artifact to the university's archaeology lab. When the farmer arrived,
he took the carefully padded artifact out of a small box and handed it to
my advisor. He was stunned when my advisor took the artifact and started
reading "Eight Goths and 22 Norwegians on a journey of exploration from
Vinland very far west…"
Turns out the farmer's ancient relic was a miniature Kensington Runestone
replica, which can be purchased even today at the official Runestone Museum
in Alexandria, MN.
*****************************
Timothy A. Tumberg
Department of Anthropology
Emil W. Haury Building
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
school: (520) 621-2106
home: (520) 886-3512
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