This is a slice of history that interests me, and I just got a book from the library that gave much new insight. Let me introduce you to a fascinating time in Minnesota's history.
This is the Kensington Runestone:
It was found near Alexandria, Minnesota in 1898, by a Swedish farmer named Olof Ohman.
The story began that he dug it up in his field. The experts that regarded it called it a mystery, an enigma, a puzzle. Most accused Olof of making the stone himself.
The inscription, in Runes, reads:
We are 8 Goths (Swedes) and 22 Norwegians on
an exploration-journey from
Vinland over the West
We
had camp by 2 skerries one
day's-journey north from this stone
We were out and fished one day After
We came home and found 10 of our men red
with blood and dead Ave Maria (AVM)
Save us from evil
{We have 10 of our party by the sea to look \
after our ships 14 day's journey (On the side of the stone)
from this island Year 1362} /
The runes used on the stone are obscure, but since finding it, similar runes have turned up in Europe. (That Olof Ohman could have known those runes is questionable).
Olaf Ohman averred to his death that he did not carve the stone, and that he found it when digging up an aspen tree in his field. The stone was enmeshed in the roots of the tree.
Olaf Ohman was purported to be a church-going man. His family never questioned his integrity, even though he did enjoy a good joke!
Now for more interesting evidence: (This from the book by Thomas Reiersgord)
The stone, a graywacke boulder, is similar to boulders found at Knife Lake, MN, which, interestingly is called "Knife Lake" because of the cutting that happened there.
"Skerries" refers to boulder islands. There are two boulder islands in Lake Mille Lacs:
This is "Spirit Island"
Spirit Island is a fascinating geological feature. There is another similar boulder pile called "Hennepin Island" east of Spirit Island. They are both easily visible from the southern shores of Lake Mille Lacs.
It is likely that whoever engraved the runes was referring to these "skerries" and even the journey length described matches the distance between Mille Lacs and Knife Lake.
Everyone who reads the runes about men covered with blood assumes that it was the result of an altercation between the native people, the Dakota (there at the time).
Reiersgord suggests that The Black Plague was really the cause of death. He builds a convincing argument for that.
On to other notable things.
This is a Dakota History record.
At the River Rendezvous this past September we learned about these. They are quite old and fairly easy to interpret according to the Dakota. They are a good report of conditions and major events through centuries, even.
Interestingly the first event, always in the center of the circular record, is often a large rectangle with strike marks ---eerily like the Kensington Runestone. But it couldn't be that simple, right?
If, in fact, a group of Europeans came over to what is now Minnesota in 1362, they would have been Christian, the "Goths" or Swedes, monks, even. What is likely is that they told the Dakota the story of Creation and the 10 commandments. This was recorded at the beginning, with the significance of stone tablets clearly depicted!
There is a collaborating story to give weight to this. A very old Dakota woman who spoke no English, told a story to an anthropologist in 1930 from her people's legends.
"Thirty-eight white men came in ships with sails and shields. They had tools and weapons. They were jolly people and they did not marry the Dakota people." A few other details rounded out the legend.
The likely events were that a party of Europeans came west, exploring from the then-known region of "Vinland," a well-documented place now known to be New Foundland. They had been exposed to the Black Plague, and some ended up succumbing to it, even perhaps passing it along to the native peoples of this area. The year really was 1362, which predates anything Columbian. The larger craft were left on Lake Superior, which was a "sea" to them, and dugout canoes were used to forge up the Brule River (in Wisconsin) to Lake St. Croix. They portaged to the St. Croix River. From there it was up the Snake River to the Knife River, ending up at Knife Lake, and eventually Lake Mille Lacs.
But how did the Kensington Runestone get to the Alexandria area?
This stone was clearly transported, and probably by the Dakota. It was special to them, an important record, even if the runes were unintelligible to them.
As a sacred object it was taken to a sacred burial. The site on the Ohman farm is close to a sacred mound. It was buried and a tree planted on top of it, per Dakota custom.
Reiersgord gives a very likely record of the stone's journey, even evidencing a possible encounter with it by John Carver in 1767. Carver's journal indicates that he saw a tombstone-like stone covered in "hieroglyphics" treasured by the Dakota. Fascinating. Was it the Kensington Runestone? Maybe.
When you look at the beauty of the lakes and forests of Minnesota, the fertile soil and abundant hunting, it isn't any surprise that Minnesota has a long and colorful history, that it was a magnet to many people groups.
Now, to find the boulder that the Runestone was cut from. Knife Lake....
I love puzzles.
Knife Lake
My cute son and daughter in law in the fresh snow :)
