Ballstorp Runestone

About

The Ballstorp Runestone, listed as Vg 62 in the Rundata catalog, is a Viking Age memorial runestone located on the grounds of the ruins of a church in Ballstorp, which is about 8 kilometers northwest of Floby, Västra Götaland County, Sweden, which is in the historic province of Västergötland.

Description: The inscription on Vg 62, which is about 1.5 meters in height and made of gneiss, consists of runic text in the younger futhark within a band that forms an arch and a central vertical text band with a single word that hangs from the arch. The inscription is classified as being carved in runestone style RAK, which is the classification for the oldest style where the text bands have straight ends without any attached beast or serpent heads. The runestone was discovered in a bridge in 1900. Before the historic significance of runestones was understood, they were often reused as materials in the construction of bridges, walls, and buildings. The stone was then raised near the ruins of an old church in 1901. At that time, a new runic text was added on the other side of the stone by a local antiquarian, stating tina stin ar hita ok rist or MCCCCI af Ioan fron Stomin or "this stone is...