Runestone built into Kaga church in Östergötland, Sweden. Kaga church is one of the country's oldest, founded in ca 1137, and still retains its medieval spire.
Old Norse: Tufi ræisti stæin þennsi æftiʀ Lid-Bofa, faður sinn.
English: Tufi raised this stone in memory of Lid-Bofa, his father.
It is possible to date runestones approximately based on their decorative elements. On this stone, there is a looped band of runes, and a snake shown from above (rather than in profile) which is plain apart from a small lappet by the tail. This simple style, plus the fact that it was re-purposed when building the church, points to a dating between 1010 and 1037. Tufi likely personally approved its usage - perhaps to symbolically bring his father into the church?
See Gräslund 2006 for information on dating runestones stylistically.
L2012:9799 / Ög 103
There is so much speculation about the zoomorphic decoration. This one is obviously a snake, but a lot of stones depict something more approaching a dragon, or a snake with multiple appendages at least. And then there are the lions, carved by people who had never seen one. I have more posts coming ;-)
Old Norse: Tufi ræisti stæin þennsi æftiʀ Lid-Bofa, faður sinn.
English: Tufi raised this stone in memory of Lid-Bofa, his father.
It is possible to date runestones approximately based on their decorative elements. On this stone, there is a looped band of runes, and a snake shown from above (rather than in profile) which is plain apart from a small lappet by the tail. This simple style, plus the fact that it was re-purposed when building the church, points to a dating between 1010 and 1037. Tufi likely personally approved its usage - perhaps to symbolically bring his father into the church?
See Gräslund 2006 for information on dating runestones stylistically.
L2012:9799 / Ög 103