THE FIND

The runestone was a grave slab found on the farm Eggjum, Sogndal, Sogn og Fjordane. Various artefacts were also found in the grave.
The stone was found in 1917 as the lintel of a man’s grave below the ground surface containing worthless grave goods. It is just over 1.6m long and 0.80cm wide. The runes were carved on the stone’s underside and therefore hidden.

The inscription consists of c. 195 runes, divided between two long and one short line. It is the longest of the old inscriptions that we have. There is also an animal figure on the slab, a horse. The find is dated to the 600s based on the grave goods, the grave type and the inscription itself with old runes, intermediate versions of runes and a younger form of language.

Some parts of the inscription are intelligible, while others are not legible. It is also uncertain as to how we are to interpret the horse figure, whether it is contemporary with the runes or not.

The inscription seems to be ritualistic in nature and with magical content.