[crystalk]

For a slow, cold, day in a Minnesota winter, especially if one's ancestors were Scandinavian.

[Bikers4Bush]

Bump for later

[Focault's Pendulum]

That was a very interesting read, however I wish you hadn't posted it,
because now I'm gonna have trouble selling my Piltdown Man on E Bay.

[Spruce]

For a slow, cold, day in a Minnesota...
Actually, she's pretty nice out der about now doncha know.

[silmaril]

....only the ignorant still deny that Norsemen had been all over the interior of North America, New Mexico, Colorado, most of Canada, even Oklahoma, for centuries and even millennia prior to 1362.

Is the author being serious?

[d4now]

bump for later

[truth_seeker]

For a slow, cold, day in a Minnesota winter, especially if one's ancestors were Scandinavian.

Ya, ya. Not bad, for a "dumb swede." Still wondering, over 100 years later. Not bad, he..he. Nils and Anders.

[Redcloak]

This page may be of interest to you. An analysis of the stone's core versus the runes' surfaces suggests that the stone spent a long period of time buried. Geologists compared the amount of mica degradation inside the stone to degradation in the runes and on the dressed surfaces. They show a lot of degradation which wouldn't be the case if the runes were recently carved.

[danneskjold]

bfl...

[Sid Rich]

bump for later read.

[RebelDawg]

I'm just throwing this out for thought but didn't the Mayans have some sort of a legend about a blond man with blue eyes?

Maybe the Norse have been exploring a lot longer than we dare to think...

[waxhaw]

I'm of Norwegian descent on my mother's side (German and native American on my father's) and this sort of stuff always fascinates me. I'm remember reading (though now I don't remember where I read it) that the "Five Civilized Tribes" (of Last of the Mohican fame) traced their civilization back to the arrival of fair-haired, fair-eyed and fair-haired "strangers" in the land. Contemporary accounts of the physical appearance of those people belonging to the "Civilized" tribes describe many as having "clear" (not brown) eyes and as having many shades of hair color (from light-red to light-brown). Interesting stuff - given the propensity of the Vikings and Norseman to roam I have no doubt there were Scandinavians in North America (and probably South America as well) long before Columbus.

[Whilom]

Vi har de bra har ilandet.

[okie01]

"...only the ignorant still deny that Norsemen had been all over the interior of North America, New Mexico, Colorado, most of Canada, even Oklahoma, for centuries and even millennia prior to 1362."

Fascinating stuff.

I'm aware of the Heavener stone in Oklahoma. But whence the New Mexico reference?

I ask because of the Three Rivers Petroglyph (between Alamogordo and Carrizozo in SE New Mexico), which I visited in the mid-sixties.

The site consists of a sprawl of basaltic boulders, most of them between knee and waist height, as I recall. At first, you're not aware of the glyphs. But, if you sit down and let your eyes wander over the site, you'll eventually spot one. And, then, you'll realize they are all around you -- everywhere.

One of the glyphs is, very clearly, a side view of a Viking ship -- complete with raised prow and stern, square sail and round shields mounted along the side rail. Either the Vikings visited this site...or somebody who had seen such a vessel had.

There were no attendants at the site (it is a National Recreational Area at the foot of the Sacramento Mountains), so I couldn't confirm what the professional interpretation was. Or even if they were aware of it -- there being literally thousands of glyphs in the area.

[YadaYada]

I have seen this site and I do have Gloria Farley's book. The stones in the US have many messages from people who were here long before Columbus.

[jrewingjr]

Anyone interested in Pre-Columbian North American history and archeology will enjoy this site, VERY interesting. Ancient American

The article "An Ancient North African Treasure-Trove in Southern Illinois" was amazing. Apparently fleeing Roman oppression, a bunch of first century AD Jews, Christians, and Mauritanian sailors made it all the way to Illinois, leaving artifacts behind.

[bvw]

Well done ... is there a picture of the runestone?

[Interesting Times]

bump...

[DensaMensa]

>Few if any mainstream observers of American antiquities have been willing to touch it.

A very nicely done article. And I sympathize with your frustration at the intellectually constipated inhibitants of academia.

I bought (another) book on the Celts the other day, written by another "Celtic expert" and it begins with the usual map showing they originated in Germany (WRONG!) and migrated outward from ther (WRONG!). Then, copying most other books on the Celts he says in the very first sentence "At the start of the first millennium BC...(WRONG! No trace of them until ~600BC, and then in Southern Russia, Turkey, etc.) These guys never read FR to learn about the latest Archeological finds!

Anyway, I like your post, but wonder at your concern about not being able to move the 220 lb rock in a canoe? That is only the weight of a large man. I don't see the problem.

[Ditter]

Strange & intresting. Thanks.

[Danette]

I live near Kensington, MN. There are not alot of lakes around that area. It's mostly FLAT farm land. Most in this area don't believe in the runestone....and they don't care. There recently was another stone similar to the "runestone" found. When the Runestone Museum (a hole in the ground....not much traffic) was going to hire experts to authenticate the stone, the pranksters came forward and admitted it was a fraud. Even showed them exactly how they did it and demonstrated. That rock went to the rockpile. I personally knew the great great grandson of Ohman. He's a theif. Got fired from his job for STEALING company money. The Kensington Runestone is a hoax.