Järsberg Runestone

Runefacts|name=Järsberg Runestone
rundataid=Vr 1

country=Sweden
region=Värmland
city=Järsberg
produced= 6th century
artist= Unknown
text_native=Proto-Norse : [Le] ubaz(?) haite. Hrabnaz hait [e] . Ek, erilaz, runoz writu.| text_english=Leubaz am I called. Hrafn am I called. I, the eril, write the runes.
picture=
The Järsberg Runestone is a runestone in the elder futhark near Kristinehamn in Värmland, Sweden. It is a stone of reddish granite which formerly was part of a stone circle monument.

In Värmland, there are only four runestones of which two are from the Viking Age (in Old Norse) and the two others are from the Age of Migrations (in the older Proto-Norse). The Järsberg Runestone is one of the two earliest and it dates from the 6th century. It is raised along a trail called "Letstigen" which was a pre-historic trail going from the Swedish central region in the Mälaren basin to the central region of Vestfold in Norway.

It contains the runes:
*...ubaz hite ÷ h=arabana=z ¶ h=ait... ¶ ek e=rilaz runoz waritu

An inscription which is translated
*"My name is Ljuv. My name is Ravn. I eril wrote the runes".

The stone was discovered in 1862 and it was then lying on its side, partially covered by soil. It appeared to have the proper shape for a gate stone, but when runes were discovered on it, it was instead raised anew where it was found.

Those who formerly travelled the old trail met a more formidable sight than people do today. In the location there were eight more stones and there is a sketch from 1863 where both the stones and the location of the find are marked. Unfortunately both the raised stones and parts of the terrain where they were raised have disappeared due to agricultural work. Moreover, according to older information there was an additional stone circle at a small distance to the south of the field where the runestone is raised.

The disappeared monuments made many scholars convinced that the Järsberg runestone had been erected on a tumulus and several interpretations of the inscription have made this assumption. In order to arrive at a secure conclusion, the Swedish National Heritage Board made an excavation in 1975, but no traces could be found of any graves. Furthermore, no archaeological finds were made.

However, in connection with the revision of pre-historic monuments which was made in 1987, a glass pearl was found near the runestone. This kind of find indicates a woman's grave. An archaeologist have maintained that the profile of the hill that was made during the excavation in 1975 gave the impression of a large tumulus. However, there is at the moment no consensus as to whether there was a tumulus or not.

The upper part of the runestone is damaged and this was already the case when the stone was found. It is thus impossible to say how many runes that have been lost. It is safe to assume that the right row is to be completed with an "e", but the left row is more problematic. If the name is preserved, it was likely the man's name "Ubaz" (owl), but many assume that the name was "Leubaz" (pleasant), which is a name element known from another migration age runestone (Ög 171 U). Moreoever, the remainder of the rune row is not positively interpreted either.

There are also diverging opinions as to where the inscription starts. This is not only because the upper part is lost, but also to the fact that early runic inscriptions could be read from right to left. Usually the orientation of the runes indicate which direction, but the runes on this stone are ambiguous.

Several runes could be united to form bind runes and in the Järsberg runestone, there are four such cases. The last rune in the word "runoz" is an upside down rune. The Y-like rune in the word "ek" is a transitional form between the "k" rune of the elder futhark and the younger futhark which is also found on the Björketorp Runestone in Blekinge. Unlike the Björketorp runestone, there are no other runes which show transitional forms and the Järsberg runestone should consequently be older and thus it is dated to the early 6th century.

The word "erilaz" is known from several Proto-Norse inscriptions. The fact that it is a title, profession or something similar is certain, but not much more. There are many indications that it is connected to the title earl. According to a tradition from the 18th century, the older form of the name Järsberg was "Jarlsberg" ("Earl's hill"), and the monuments in the vicinity were remainders of the old earldom. However, medieval annotations of the name contradict that the name Järsberg is derived from "jarl".

In fiction

The Swedish author Jan Andersson has written a novel "Jag, Herulen: En värmländsk historia" about the making of the stone. The book is based on the theory that "Erilaz" refers to the Heruli, a Germanic tribe which Procopius reported had returned to Scandinavia. In the book, the returning Heruls pass through Geatish territory and find a mostly unsettled land which becomes Värmland.

ources

*Rundata
* [http://hildebrand.raa.se/arkeologi/jarsberg.asp "Järsberg", an article at the Swedish National Heritage Board] , retrieved May 14, 2007.