Dynna stone

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The Dynna Stone is a rune stone from the late Viking period. It is a roughly 3 meter tall, triangular slab of pinkish-red sandstone with runic inscriptions running down one of its edges, and with carved images on the front. The stone was erected ca. AD 1040 - 1050, and is its imagery is considered among the first Christian pictorial art in Norway.

The rather crude images on the front of the stone slab depict a nativity scene, including the infant Jesus, the Star of Bethlehem and the three wise men on horseback.

The Younger Futhark inscription reads:

Gunnvôr gerði brú, Þrýðríks dóttir, eptir Ástríði, dóttur sína. Sú var mær hônnurst á Haðalandi

Which translates to:

Gunnvor, Thrydrikr's daughter, made the bridge in memory of her daughter Astridr. She was the handiest maiden in Hadeland

The stone was acquired by the Historical Museum in Oslo in 1879. Until then it had been used as a salt lick for cattle at Dynna farm near Gran. The stone is still part of the museum’s permanent medieval exhibition. A copy of the stone can be found atop a Viking age grave mound at Hadeland Folkemuseum in Gran.

References

Norges innskrifter med de yngre runer, bind I, p. 192

External links

[Historical Museum, Oslo] (In Norwegian)

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