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I have just gotten off the phone with Scott Wolter of American Petrographic Services. He was very excited to speak of this study and told me he was giving a presentation soon, and would call me and invite me.

To answer the first question, the Stone is in Sweden at the University of Uppsala and will remain there until sometime in January. The Swedes are duplicating Wolter's experiments as well as other exams, including advanced Linguistics.

Mr. Wolter says that his geological tests are more trustworthy than any other, because they are the most objective.

He gave me more detail on the tests. He said there are four types of Mica in Graywacke. (pron. "gray-waa-kee")
These types weather at different rates on the surface. Wolter chose the type that weathers fastest, therefore more accurate. What he proved is that the runes were carved at the time the stone was dressed and that it had been buried after inscription for a long time, such that the farmer who found it had not inscribed it. If you take the farmer out of the picture, it means that someone many years before had to have come there and carved a stone fake with the date 1362 on it. Either that happened, or the Stone is genuine. Another study was done in 1910, by University Professor of Geology, Dr. Newton Winchell(sp?) that was pooh-poohed, but came to the same conclusion using methods of the day.

Mr. Wolter said that much of the linguistics studies have been done by an interested amateur, a Mr. Richard Nielson.(sp.?) He is a Naval Engineer, by education and has taught 14th Century Runes to Europeon scholars. It looks as though he will be publishing a joint paper with a Professor from the University of Uppsala on the subject. Mr. Wolter predicted we would hear more in about 6 months or so.

Mr. Wolter also said there is still much skepticism about the Stone in Scandinavia, and many scholars are still weighing in regardless of facts in evidence. Up to this point, all the linguistics have not been proven inconsistent with a 14th Century context.

The Stone, I have found, has been travelling alot lately. It has been in Scandinavia at least one additional time in the past two years and the last time I was at the Museum in Alexandria, Minnesota, it was at an exhibit in Austria.

Mr. Wolter has also studied every archive he could find in the Minnesota State Historical Society, including some things that no one now living has ever seen. Everything he has found is consistent with authenticity. There were contrary opinions, to be certain. But in the end, all the facts, pictures, contemporary accounts and scholarship speak for themselves.

All of you will be glad to know that I congratulated Mr. Wolter on being the person who changed the story of Pre- Columbian America. Once again, we who Freep are on the leading edge.