The Stavanger Rune-Stone: Insights into Viking Age Writing, Memorial Practice, and the Limits of the Younger Futhark

The Stavanger rune-stone, raised by Ketill in memory of his wife Jórunn, offers a valuable case study for understanding Viking Age literacy, commemorative practices, and linguistic representation. Carved in the Younger Futhark, the inscription demonstrates both the adaptability and the limitations of the sixteen-rune system, including ambiguous phonemic representation and variable orthography. While the stone survives relatively intact, many Scandinavian inscriptions are challenging to read due to material erosion, informal carving conventions, and the restricted phonetic inventory of the alphabet. The uncertain interpretation of the sequence uþurm, representing Jórunn's father, illustrates how personal names are often only partially recoverable from runic texts. Comparing the archaeological record with saga literature highlights a divergence between the practical, public function of runes in memorial and communicative contexts and their later literary depiction as magical symbols. The Stavanger stone thus provides a clear window into Viking Age writing, offering insights into both the practical and cultural dimensions of early medieval Scandinavian literacy.