SocialcontextThe Viking‐Age custom of carvingrunestones fits in the tradi;on of crea;nglarge, costly monuments for someone’sdeath that featured prominently in thelandscape as mounds and stone se@ngsandinculturalmemoryasfurnishedgraves.

Imagesonrunestonesincludeobjects(e.g.ships, wagons), aHributes (e.g. weapons)andanimals(e.g.horses,dogs,birds)thatwere used as grave goods. This suggeststhat certain images func;oned in thesame context of commemora;on andstatus‐displayastheobjectsingraves.

Cogni;vecontextWhen inscrip;ons and images arecombined, pictures make an earlier andstrongerimpressiononviewersthantext.1

Five inscrip;ons that use ráða in themeaning ‘interpret’ explicitly refer to therunesasneedinginterpreta;on,2butinsixothers this possibly also concerns otheraspectsofdesignorthewholerunestone.3 CONTEMPORARYACCOUNTSOFVIEWING IMAGES

The seeing‐in model on representa;ontheory explains that viewers will thinkaboutascenewhenperceivingapicture,andexperiencethisasasingleprocess.4

Thevocabularyinfourskaldicpoemswhichrefer to images also gives the impressionthat these prompted the viewer to recallandrecounttherelatednarra;ves.5

Suchimagespossiblyresembledthoseonthe remainsofViking‐Agehangings fromÖverhogdal and Oseberg, whichrepresent mul;ple stories. The similarimages on runestones could also haveevokedstoriesintheobserver'smind.

Other poems show that mul;ple storiescouldrelatetothepraisedperson,ratherthantoeachother.6

Introduc;onCa10%oftheroughly3000Viking‐Agerunestones found in Scandinavia aredecoratedwithfiguralimagesofhumanfigures,animals,ships,etc.

RESEARCHQUESTIONWeretheimagespartofageneralmethodof visual communica;on employed onrunestonesandhowdidtheyfunc;on?

VISUALANALYSIS:IMPRESSIONS&QUESTIONS•  Images are generally more

prominent in the design than thetext,bothinsizeandposi;on.

•  Because one‐to‐one rela;onshipsbetween images and inscrip;on‐elementscannotbediscerneditseemsimages communicate not only inanotherwaythantheinscrip;ons,butalsoadifferentkindofinforma;on.

•  Doinscrip;onsonstoneswithcertainimagescontainmoreojeninforma;onaddi;onal to the memorial formula,like a carver‐signature, a prayer orinvoca;on, or informa;on about thecommemoratedperson’slifeordeath?

VisualCommunicationonViking­AgeRunestones

MarjoleinSternaexms5@nottingham.ac.uk

REFERENCES1AnnMarieBarry,“Percep;onTheory”, inHandbookofVisualCommunica5on, ed.byKenSmithetal. (2005),pp.45‐62.

2U11Hovgården,U729Ågersta,U847Västeråkersk:a,UFv1959;196Hammarbyk:a,Vg119Sparlösa.

3Öl 58 Böda k:a, Sö 213Nybble,U 29Hillersjö,U 328Lundby,U887Skillsta,U1167Ekeby.

4 KeithKenney, “Representa;onTheory”, inHandbook ofVisualCommunica5on, ed.byKenSmithetal. (2005),pp.99‐115(111).

5ÚlfrUggason’sHúsdrápa,BragiBoddasons’RagnarsdrápaandÞórr'sFishing,andÞjóðólfrórHvíni’sHaustlǫng.

6Illugibryndœlaskáld’sDigtomHaraldrharðráði;KormákrǪgmundarson’sSigurðardrápa;Þorfinnrmunnr’sLausavísur.

Vs17Råby

Theshipisvisiblelongbeforetheinscrip5oncanberead.

WhatdidthisshipmeanforHolmsteinn,who:let:resa:mer[ki:e-ir:.frit:gonu:sina:ok:i-ir]:sik:selfan:(hadthelandmarkraisedinmemoryofTíðfríðr,hiswife,andinmemoryofhimself)?

SupervisedbyProf.JudithJeschandDrChristinaLee

Sö213Nybble.Photo:ChristerHamp2007www.christerhamp.se/runor

Exampleofaxe‐burial.AjerG.Trotzig,“AnaxeassignofrankinaVikingcommunity,”Archaeolo‐gyandEnvironment4(1985),pp.83‐87(84).

DR282HunnestadDrawing:OleWorm,MonumentaDanica

Överhogdalsbonadernafragment.Photo:www.jamtli.com

Raþi : saR :kuni (Interpretwhocan!)at theendof thisinscrip5on could refer back to the whole monument:stain […] s.ntn : at : uitum : bat : miþ : runum (thestone,paintedasamarker,boundwithrunes).

Par5cularburialtypeswithridingequipment(and/orhorses)andweaponssuchasswordsandspearsontheonehand and non‐equestrian graves with an axe as only weapon on the other can be dis5nghuished in variousScandinavianregions.There isasimilardivideamongthe imagesofhumanfigureswithweaponsonrunestones:longsha[ed axes are the sole a\ribute of standingmen on Sö 190 Y\erenhörna and DR 282 Hunnestad, whileswordsandspearsarelargelyheldbyfiguresonhorsebackonVg119Sparlösa,U678Skokloster,U691Söderby,U855Böksta,andU1161Altunaandoccurincombina5onwitheachotheronÖg181Ledberg.

Vg119Sparlösa

U1161Altuna

Exampleofburialwithhorse,dogandvariousweapons,incl.sword.AjerK.Kjallmark,“EHgraffältfråndenyngrejärn‐ålderniÅsiJämtland,”Ymer(1905),pp.351‐372(365).