Stones with runic inscriptions are part of a tradition that began in the 4th century AD in Scandinavia but had its peak in the Viking Age. Around 6,000 have been found around the world and were generally used, adorned with striking colors, to commemorate the death of a person.
It was unusual, however, for the same individual to have his name on more than one stone. Hence the appearance of the same reference in up to four different runes found in Denmark generated so much uproar among archaeologists. They all mentioned a mysterious woman named Thyra who accumulated vast power more than 1,000 years ago.
Researchers at the National Museum of Denmark have studied the rocks, which were most likely carved by the same person, with three-dimensional scanners. One of them is the famous Jelling Stone 2, which was erected by King Harald Bluetooth to commemorate his parents.
Danish archaeologists began to suspect that Thyra must have been someone very important in the 9th century AD. And they considered that she was surely a queen who played a fundamental role in the formation of the Danish state: the mother of Harald Bluetooth.
The four rune stones, as explained by experts from the National Museum in an article published in the magazine Antiquity, were divided between two different groups found in Denmark and revealed that they were probably made in dedication to a powerful Viking queen.
The first group, the Jelling Stones, were created by Harald Bluetooth, the king credited with founding the Danish state, in commemoration of his parents Gorm and Thyra. The second group, the Ravnunge-Tue Stones, also mentions a woman with the same name.
"We wanted to see if we could find the same rune engraver on some of these stones, to be able to connect the Ravnunge-Tue with Jelling," explains the lead author of the research, Ph.D., in a statement. Lisbeth Imer. "If there was a connection, it would be very likely that all the stones referred to the same woman, Thyra, mother of Harald Bluetooth," she adds.
To test the validity of this theory, Imer and a team of specialists from several Scandinavian institutions made 3D models of the rune stones and analyzed the shape and carving techniques used to cut the inscriptions, in addition to studying the language used.
The researchers compared grooves carved into well-preserved rune stones to identify distinctive marks made by different carvers. Similarities between the runes on the Læborg Stone (one of the Ravnunge-Tue Stones) and the Jelling Stone 2 suggest that they were engraved by the same person.
Therefore, the references to Thyra in both groups of stones probably refer to the same person: the Danish queen and mother of Harald Bluetooth. This indicates that she was a particularly powerful and celebrated individual in her time. It is likely that she even had land and authority in her own right, not just through her husband.
"No other Viking man or woman in Denmark has been mentioned on so many runestones," notes Dr. Imer. "And this underlines her undeniable importance in consolidating the kingdom under the rule of her son Harald," she adds.
Experts believe this means that women probably had more influence in Viking Age Denmark than previously believed, with Viking rulers able to hold power in their own right and rule on behalf of their husbands or minor children. .
“It also has important implications for our knowledge of the formation of the Danish state. "The combination of current analyzes and the geographical distribution of the runestones indicates that Thyra was one of the key figures, or even the key figure, for the formation of the Danish kingdom," the authors conclude.
