Scripta maiora 2

Stefan E. Hagenfeldt & Rune Palm, Sandstone Runestones. The use of sandstone for erected runestones (1996, 125 s.) . 50 SEK.

This book discusses questions such as when, where and why sandstone was chosen for runestones. In the late Viking Age and the early Middle Ages there is a change of fashion. Whereas erected runestones of the Viking Age are of locally available rocks, mainly granite and gneiss, medieval grave monuments are of sedimentary rock. Some runestones of sandstone are churchyard monuments and have a function slightly different from other runestones. They thus indicate sites where churches were built in the 11th and 12th century,churches predating the ones we know today. The material of runic stone monuments is an aspect that has only been studied occasionally, and this book is the result of a joint project involving geology and runology.