U 1014 is the

Rundata The Scandinavian Runic-text Database () is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of transliterated runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future resea ...

designation for a

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

memorial

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic alphabet, runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th centur ...

that is located in Ärentuna, which is about one kilometer east of

Lövstalöt Lövstalöt is a locality situated in Uppsala Municipality, Uppsala County, Sweden with 1,046 inhabitants in 2010. Lövstalöt is situated 12 km north of the city of Uppsala, in the flat country that surrounds the city. Until the end of the 1 ...

Uppland Uppland is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The name literally ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Description

This runic inscription consists of runic text carved on a serpent that circles a center where the serpent's head and tail are intertwined. A small

Christian cross The Christian cross, seen as representing the crucifixion of Jesus, is a religious symbol, symbol of Christianity. It is related to the crucifix, a cross that includes a ''corpus'' (a representation of Jesus' body, usually three-dimensional) a ...

is in the upper part of the design. The runestone is 1.01 meters in height and made of

gneiss Gneiss (pronounced ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. This rock is formed under p ...

. The inscription for stylistic reasons has been attributed to the

runemaster A runemaster or runecarver is a specialist in making runestones. Description More than 100 names of runemasters are known from Viking Age Sweden with most of them from 11th-century eastern Svealand.The article ''Runristare'' in ''Nationalencyklo ...

Öpir Öpir or ''Öper'' (Old Norse: ''Øpiʀ''/''Œpir'', meaning "shouter") was a runemaster who flourished during the late 11th century and early 12th century in Uppland, Sweden.The article ''Öpir'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (1996). He was the m ...

, who was active in the Uppland area in the late 11th or early 12th century. It has its

runic inscription A runic inscription is an inscription made in one of the various runic alphabets. They generally contained practical information or memorials instead of magic or mythic stories. The body of runic inscriptions falls into the three categories of E ...

around an intricate animal design and is carved in

runestone style :''The term "runestone style" in the singular may refer to the Urnes style.'' The style or design of runestones varied during the Viking Age. The early runestones were simple in design, but towards the end of the runestone era they became increas ...

Pr5, also known as the

Urnes style Viking art, also known commonly as Norse art, is a term widely accepted for the art of Scandinavian Norsemen and Vikings, Viking settlements further afield—particularly in the British Isles and Iceland—during the Viking Age of the 8th-11th ...

. This runestone style is characterized by slim and stylized animals that are interwoven into tight patterns. The animal heads are typically seen in profile with slender almond-shaped eyes and upwardly curled appendages on the noses and the necks. The runic text states that a man named either Holmgeirr or Hjalmgeirr raised the stone as a memorial to his two sons, Ígulfastr and Svarthǫfði. The name Svarthǫfði translates as "Black Head," and was often used as a nickname.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:iolmkeʀ ' lit ' raisa ' stain ' ifti � ' iulfast ' uk 'suartufþa ' suni ' sinaProject Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
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entry for U 1014.

Transcription into Old Norse

:''Holmgeirr/Hjalmgeirr lét reisa stein eptir Ígulfast(?) ok Svarth]ǫfða, sonu sína''.

Translation in English

:Holmgeirr/Hjalmgeirr had the stone raised in memory of Ígulfastr(?) and Svarthǫfði, his sons.

References