In 1898, a Swedish immigrant named Olof Ohman reported that he found a stone, measuring 30 x 16 x 6 inches in size, while clearing land he had acquired in Western Minnesota for farming. It weighed a hefty 202 pounds.
The stone was found lying face down in wetlands covered by the roots of a poplar tree, which was estimated to be 10-40 years old, predating Olham’s move into the area. As he moved the stone, Ohman’s ten-year-old son reportedly noticed markings on the stone. The pair assumed that they had found some kind of native artifact.
But the language on the runestone was soon identified as Nordic runes. It became known as the Kensington Runestone, for the settlement about seven miles from where it was found in Solem.
The find was immediately controversial, with some claiming that it was a fraud, and others that it was genuine evidence of early Viking exploration of America.
A Bloody Expedition
A translation of the runestone records a dark tale of an expedition to the region, which resulted in the deaths of many, and from which no one likely returned.
Eight Gotlanders and 22 Northmen on (this) exploration journey from Vinland far to the west. We had a camp by two (shelters?) one day’s journey north from this stone. We were fishing one day. After we came home, found 10 men red from blood and dead. Ave Maria save from evil. There are 10 men by the inland sea to look after our ships fourteen days journey from this peninsula. Year 1362.
If the Kensington Runestone is real, this would be a fascinating story. It would suggest that Nordic travelers were still visiting the New World 350 years after the initial journey by Lief Erikson and other Greenlanders. It also suggests that they were still using the same route, with the region that Erikson named Vinland, probably Newfoundland in Canada, as a recognized camp. This meant that they made a 2,500-mile journey west through the Great Lakes.
There was a significant desire to believe that this was a genuine archaeological find, as it emerged during an age of national romanticism, during which Scandinavians were diving into the sagas and celebrating their past. The story of Lief Erikson was especially popular with Scandinavians who had migrated to the New World.
It is no coincidence that the story of a Viking settlement called Norumbega near Boston was also popular at this time. Plus, the archaeological remains at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, had not yet been found, so this could have been the earliest evidence of a Viking presence in the New World.
An Elaborate Fraud?
Almost immediately, experts began to debate the authenticity of the runestone in newspapers and publications.
Many scholars claimed that it was a fraud. This opinion did not change after the discovery of L’Anse aux Meadows in 1960, which suggests that the Vikings had traveled as far as Newfoundland around the year 1000 CE, but that their settlement was short-lived, occupied for a matter of decades rather than centuries.
Experts also claimed that the language used felt more like the Swedish used in the 19th century than the Swedish used in the 14th century, as claimed by the stone. For example, the term “exploration journey” felt modern. Plus, it uses Arabic numerals to give the date, 1362, which would be unusual for runestones from that age. However, 14th-century Scandinavians certainly used Arabic numerals in other contexts.
Moreover, the weathering of the stone seemed more uniform than expected for a stone that had been left open to the elements for more than 400 years. Plus, the runes themselves seemed too sharply carved.
It also seems convenient that it was found by a Norse settler, and not one of the many other immigrants who called Minnesota home.
Supporting Evidence
However, there are still those who argue that the Kensington Runestone is a genuine 14th-century artifact. It was reportedly found facedown in the base of a poplar tree, which may have protected it from the elements and caused the remarkable state of preservation.
Plus, possible Viking campsites and Norse-looking tools have been found along the 750-mile route between Saskatchewan in Canada and the Sauk Center in Minnesota, suggesting that there could have been Viking exploration of the region.
There is also nothing to prove it is a forgery. Ohman was relatively uneducated and probably did not have the skill to carve the runestone. Moreover, he did not ask for money or try and sell the stone or court fame. He had no clear motive for participating in such an elaborate hoax.
Visit the Kensington Runestone
You can visit the Kensington Runestone yourself and make up your own mind. It is in the Kensington Runestone Museum in Alexandria, Minnesota. The museum presents both the evidence for the runestone being fake and the evidence that it is genuine evidence of an early Viking presence in the United States.
The rest of the museum is dedicated to what settlement was like for people who arrived in Minnesota in the early days of colonization. Many of the people who came to the region were from Scandinavia. Exhibits include a psalmodikon, a Norwegian musical instrument created to teach singing that was used in the Norwegian State Church to teach hymns.
In a separate open-air museum that is a collection of historic buildings. It tells the story of Fort Alexandria, which was established in 1863 and became the social hub for the new settlers. Buildings include a schoolhouse and a church. There is also a 40-foot replica of a Viking merchant ship, called the Snorri, after the famous Scandinavian author Snorri Sturluson.
You can also see a replica of the runestone, but at five times the original size, on the outskirts of time. There is also a smaller replica in situ in the Kensington Runestone Park.
