Runic inscription:

Likvid and Knut . . . had the stone erected after . . . their . . ., Gerlög's husband.
God help his soul.


· likuiþr - auk · knu - . . . tu · r - - sa · . . . n at · u . . . si - bu - - ta . . . . rlaugar
· kuþ hiebli - sal ha - s

Facts:

Size: width 1.9 m and height 2.65
Hard-worn granite
 

History:

For as long as we know, hundreds of years, the runestone has been lying on the slope to the east with the carving facing upwards. But in 1937 it was re-erected.

The surface is badly worn, uneven and knotty. The interpretation of the ornamentation and runes is uncertain in many places, sometimes completely missing. Among other things, my intro image at the top is incomplete because of this.

The runic inscription mentions "..?.. husband of Gerlög" which is interesting. Unfortunately his name has been lost but he was probably not very well known at the end of the 11th century anyway because the name needed to be clarified with "husband of Gerlög"... 


This Ting site probably belonged to Hilleshög and during its time to Gerlög. The second runestone, U 37, was carved by Torbjörn the poet who also carved Gerlög's mighty runestone at Hilleshög. He was apparently the family's runecarver by tradition.

Runecarver:

Balle?

The rune carver Balle has a penchant for covering the entire surface with ornamentation, as on this particular runestone. He has also been attributed with the lost runestone U 2 at Adelsö church.

Even though today it is not possible to see all the ornamentation and runic inscription, nor a possible signature by Balle, it is still highly likely that these are works of art by Balle that we see here at the Ting site.

Kalle's thoughts...?

My colored image at the top is incomplete and probably has errors.
Since the runestone is so badly worn, details are missing and the ornamentation is unusually difficult to interpret, my image at the top of the page is probably partly incorrect, it is at least incomplete.

It has been a long time since the runestone was cleaned of lichen and moss, but the next time it happens (if it happens), I will take the opportunity to examine it extra carefully.

From my experience with other runestones that have been thoroughly cleaned, I know that it is then possible to get more out of the runes and especially the ornamentation..

The rough surface is covered with
Balle's advanced ornamentation
 

When the runestone was to be erected in 1937, it was placed on some smaller stones (see the picture below). I believe the runestone was originally erected directly on the rock slab below and supported by the smaller stones.
As it faltered over time, it fell backwards and rolled on its own supporting stones, which then ended up under the runestone. 

Stock photo 1934

Since the soil is thin and we know where the runestone was before 1937 (see image above), a simple investigation should be able to give us some of the missing fragments from the edges of the stone.

These in turn could help us decipher a little more of the runic inscription...

and maybe even give us the name of Gerlög's husband?
 

Links

Upplands runinskrifter > Page 51
(Only in Swedish)

Runor >  Riksantikvarieämbetet
(National Antiquities Board, mostly Swedish)

Google map > Find the runestone.

 

ALL RUNESTONES

Ekerö municipality

ADELSÖ >
has 5 known runestones

BIRKA >
has fragments from 9 known runestones

MUNSÖ >
has 3 or 4 known runestones

EKERÖ >
has 11 known runestones

FÄRINGSÖ >
has 27 known runestones

LOVÖ >
has 8 known runestones