The Tullstorp Runestone is a Viking Age memorial runestone, listed as DR 271 in the Rundata catalog, that is located in Tullstorp, about twenty kilometers east of Trelleborg, Skåne County, Sweden, and in the historic province of Scania. The inscription on the stone consists of runic text on a serpent band that frames a central image consisting of a ship and a beast, which has been described as being a wolf. This stone was rediscovered when the old church in Tullstorp was torn down in 1846.
Before the historical significance of runestones was understood, they were often used as materials in the construction of buildings, walls, and roads. The stone first ended up in the wall surrounding the church yard, later it was moved to the current position inside the church yard. It is dated from about 1000 AD. The ship and the wolf in the central image probably reflect the Ragnarök myth, which would make the Great Wolf Fenrir and the ship Naglfar.
The ship is shaped like an ancient galley with beakheads both fore and aft and is unlike any known Viking ship, suggesting from its archaic form that it is a symbolic ship associated with ritual. The runic text indicates that the stone was raised as a memorial to a man named Ulfr. Besides the Ragnarök myth, it may be that the image of the wolf was inspired by this man's name, which in Old Norse means "Wolf."
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nik Frost
Discuss this with the author and others
No comments yet. Be the first to start the conversation.