The left edge has damage that could have come from a move where spears and sturgeons were used. The damaged runic inscription is the runic carver's signature: "Håvard carved the stone"
 

Facts:
The stone is made of gray granite.
Size: 210 x 160 cm
The carving surface is completely flat.

Map

The runestone is located on its hill near the farm Frutorp and Olsbro in Västergötland.

Runic inscription:
Gufi raised this stone in memory of Olav, his son, a very good valiant man. He was killed in Estonia.
Hávarðr(?) cut the stone.

kufi : rsþi : stin : þesi : eftR : ulaf : sun : sin · trk · hrþa · kuþan ·
hn · uarþ · trbin · i · estlatum ·
hu(a)rþ(r) · iuk · s---

Look at the runestone
through the eyes of a rune carver

This is how it might have happened...
Olov was a young man who in 1060 accompanied on a journey to Estonia to become rich through trade or plunder... but he was killed on the journey.

When his father Guve found out what had happened to his son, he hired a craftsman to have a runestone erected in his son's honor and memory.

Håvard was given the assignment
Håvard was primarily a craftsman but also had an artistic streak. He designed the ornamentation with inspiration from motifs he had seen in wealthier houses and from wooden objects.

He received help with the runic inscription and the runes from someone knowledgeable in runes as he himself did not master that part.

The main motif was a lion crowned with an extra flashy cross, all surrounded by a dragon that entwines itself at the bottom of the stone. The dragon's body was filled with runes and the memory of the son Olov and his death in Estonia.
 

To create a profile of Håvard.
As a contemporary runecarver, studying the work of a previous runecarver can bring you closer to the other person. Below I show how details on runestone Vg 181 give me clues to how and who the runecarver Håvard was.

The shape of the runes in detail:

All R-runes are uncertain and clumsily designed.

All S-runes have a "Z- shape" that sits too high on the main staff.

The U-runes are interesting because the first 1-3 were carved unnecessarily "sharp" with the main staves meeting the secondary staves at a point, which makes the work both more difficult and with more fragile results.

The remaining runes 4-6 were given a better U shape with a rounded secondary staff that meets the main staff a little further down, which makes the work easier and the result more secure.
 

Was Håvard a craftsman who became a runecarver?
He was probably a skilled craftsman and also an artist from the beginning. He probably couldn't read runes but had to follow a template that someone had sketched out for him.
But he develops and learns to handle the runes better and better as the work progresses and he becomes more efficient and confident.  

Where did the inspiration come from?
The lion on the Tulltorp runestone DR 271 could be a source of inspiration but it is most likely that the inspiration comes from the far more common works of art in wood in high-class buildings such as on posts, furniture and other wooden objects, paintings and tapestries that have now been lost through age.

Old runestones of age-resistant granite give us only a small hint of the works of art that existed 1000 years ago and more.

Links

Runor >  The National Antiquities Board

Extern link > Ancient Memories

Google map > Find the runestone
 

More Runestones

All runestones in Ekerö municipality >

Outside Ekerö municipality

Sö 141b - Aspa bridge with the word Svitjod (Sö Fv1948;289)

Sö 179 - Gripsholm, an Ingvar runestone

U 79 - Hässelby, carved by Ärnfast

U 123 - Karlberg, carved by Ärnfast

U 885 - Balingsta, carved by Ärnfast

U 887 - Skillsta, one of the most beautiful

U 1125 - The old man in Krogsta is 1500 years old

Vg 181 - Olsbrostenen, Västergötland / New 2026

Vs 29 - A masterpiece by Livsten