Poteau Runestone
Encyclopedia
The Poteau Runestone was found by schoolboys in 1967 near Poteau
in Le Flore County, Oklahoma
. Four of the runes are duplicates of those on the Heavener Runestone, and three seemed to be variants of others on it. From the site of the Poteau runestone, the Heavener Runestone on the side of Poteau Mountain lies about 10 miles to the southeast. The original sites of Heavener Runestones Numbers Two and Three fall in a line between them.
in use during the 2nd to 8th century. However, the last character, which would be an "L" is reversed compared with the second to last "A". Also, the second character is an a from the Younger Futhark
. The transcription is then G-A-O-M-E-D-A-L. It is possible that the makers of this stone intended to draw an Elder Futhark N, but also reversed it.
Poteau, Oklahoma
Poteau is a city in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 8,520 at the 2010 census, ranking fifth in the Greater Fort Smith Area. It is the county seat of Le Flore County...
in Le Flore County, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
Description
It is 15 inches long. There are seven characters in a straight line, 1 to 2 inches high. The runes showed very plainly because the bottom of the grooves were in a lighter colored layer of the stone, while the surface was dark. Tool marks in the grooves showed that the letters had been made with a punch, like the Heavener RunestoneHeavener Runestone
The Heavener Runestone is an inscribed stone located in Heavener, Oklahoma. The land on which it sits is now a state park on Poteau Mountain, just outside the town limits. The origin of the stone's runic carvings is disputed.-News:...
. Four of the runes are duplicates of those on the Heavener Runestone, and three seemed to be variants of others on it. From the site of the Poteau runestone, the Heavener Runestone on the side of Poteau Mountain lies about 10 miles to the southeast. The original sites of Heavener Runestones Numbers Two and Three fall in a line between them.
Transcriptions
The runes on the Poteau stone is . Most of these characters belong to the Elder FutharkElder Futhark
The Elder Futhark is the oldest form of the runic alphabet, used by Germanic tribes for Northwest Germanic and Migration period Germanic dialects of the 2nd to 8th centuries for inscriptions on artifacts such as jewellery, amulets, tools, weapons and runestones...
in use during the 2nd to 8th century. However, the last character, which would be an "L" is reversed compared with the second to last "A". Also, the second character is an a from the Younger Futhark
Younger Futhark
The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet, a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, consisting of only 16 characters, in use from ca. 800 CE...
. The transcription is then G-A-O-M-E-D-A-L. It is possible that the makers of this stone intended to draw an Elder Futhark N, but also reversed it.
Other sources
- Nielson, Richard, The Runestones of Oklahoma (Epigraphic Society Occasional Publications, Volume16, 1987)