Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Proof Positive the Kensington Rune Stone is Medieval

While researching deeper into the Ritual Code within the Kensington Rune Stone inscription I discovered in early 2016, it led to another incredible discovery that by itself proves the medieval origin of the artifact.  Briefly, I discovered the first four symbolic numbers of 8, 22, 2 and 1, as they occur in sequence add up to 32, then 33, which equals the system of degrees within Scottish Rite Freemasonry.  These numbers are directly related to the Hebrew mysticism of the Kabbalah that traces the same numbering system to the number of bones and nerves in the spinal cord (32) with the skull, and brain within it, totaling 33.

The remaining numbers of 1, 10, 10, 14, relate to the Ten Commandments, the Enochian Legends, and the Isis/Osiris mysteries and the allegorical stories of the annual cycle of life on earth that every culture on the planet experiences.  In short, the Kensington inscription is largely allegorical with certain factual information peppered in for the initiated few to decipher.  The inscription was carved by a deeply initiated medieval monk who understood these alchemical teachings creating a brilliant message that included codes (Dating and Grail Codes) and important symbolism I have already published in my books.

What the initiated Cistercian monk also understood was the ancient and very sacred measuring system used by cultures dating back over 10,000 years that was calculated using the planet Venus: the Megalithic Yard.  British researcher, Alan Butler, wrote about his rediscovery of the megalithic yard in his groundbreaking book, City of the Goddess: Washington D.C.  Alan discovered that not only did ancient cultures build the world famous megalithic structures like Stonehenge in England, Newgrange in Ireland, the Great Pyramids at Giza in Egypt and other sites around the world, but the Founding Fathers of the United States built our capitol city in Washington D.C. using the same megalithic system.  

I have argued for nearly two decades that Freemasonry evolved from the medieval Knights Templar and most people know many of our Founding Fathers were Freemasons.  I maintain knowledge of the megalithic yard system of measurement was passed on to people like Thomas Jefferson, through Freemasonry, along with many other secrets directly from the Templars.  From there I used logic to try and determine if there was any other evidence on the Kensington Stone that might shed new light on who created it.  Sure enough, yet another connection to the Templars, and the initiated Cistercian monks who traveled with them, was there.

The megalithic yard is 2.72 feet in length.  If we multiple that length by 12 inches we get a total of 32.64 inches.  I asked Janet to take a length of string she had cut to that length and measure the length of the cast we own of the Kensington Stone, and it was about an inch short.  However, when she measured it diagonally across the face of the stone it was exactly one megalithic yard in length.  Keep in mind the carver was working with an irregular shaped slab of a glacial erratic, yet was still able to skillfully split the slab down to nearly the exact sacred dimensions he wanted.  As I have argued before, the primary purpose of the Kensington Rune Stone was to be a Templar land claim to establish a sanctuary where they could practice freedom of religion and freedom from the tyranny and oppression of the monarchs of Europe.  The Rune Stone was beginning of the founding of the United States and to ensure its protection the carver appears to have acknowledged Deity by using the sacred measuring system derived from the planet Venus; who to him and his Cistercian/Templar brethren was the physical manifestation of the Goddess in the heavens.  

   
Stonehenge in England is arguably the most famous megalithic structure in the world built using the megalithic yard over 5,000 years ago.


Newgrange in Ireland also dates back over 5,000 years and incorporates the megalithic measuring system.



The Great Pyramids of Egypt are believed to date back over 10,000 years and incorporate the megalithic yard.

The temple pyramid at Chichen Itza in Mexico had the megalithic yard used in its construction over 1,000 years ago.



When measured down the split side of the Kensington Rune Stone it measures just over an inch longer than a megalithic yard of 2.72 feet.



However, when measured diagonally across the face of the artifact that distance is exactly one megalithic yard, or 32.64 inches in length.  


The Thomson Formation of metagraywacke weathers into flat tabular slabs as can be seen along the banks of the St. Louis River, in Jay Cook State Park, a few miles south of Duluth, Minnesota.  The Kensington Rune Stone was carved into a large tabular slab of metagrawacke plucked by continental ice and carried to somewhere near the Ohman Farm roughly 10,000 years ago.


This diagram shows the Newport Tower conforms to the Megalithic Yard measuring system in its construction.  Since the Tower and the Kensington Rune Stone are connected through long-range alignments of the egg and notched keystones, it should be no surprise both artifacts were constructed by the medieval Cistercians and Knights Templar using the same ancient, and sacred, measuring system.  



This measuring stick with runic carvings was found in Norway and has a curious mixture of runic symbols including a reasonably close rendition of the Hooked X (Top left in upper photo).  The stick, and presumably the runic carvings, are believed to date to 1888 or before. 



On the back side of the stick is the runic alphabet that fairly closely matches the KRS alphabet.  Below is a Masonic box code that matches the runes and letters above. 

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Did Juan Ponce de Leon Carve the Overton Stone?

While researching early explorers to North America I stumbled upon something that jogged my memory.  On a trip to Nova Scotia this past August, Janet and I examined an amazing carving on the extreme western coastline called the Overton Stone (See blog post dated September 3, 2017).  The primary carvings are of a Christian style cross within a circle together with what appears to be a feather with two crossed leaves of tobacco and a crescent moon or the crescent of the planet Venus when viewed from earth.  But that is not the full extent of the carvings on the bedrock outcropping.  Just above ground level, roughly four feet to the lower right of the main group of carvings, is another interesting cluster of carvings.


A second cluster of carvings is found roughly four feet to the lower right of the main group (red boxed area) of carvings Janet Wolter is pointing to.


The second cluster includes two carvings with loops and curved lines at the top and the apparent numbers '06' and '07' below. 


A closer view of the carvings on top show what appears to be an "S" lying sideways to the right and a pair of "fish" symbols carved as a single continuous line on the left.

The second cluster of carvings includes two symbols with curved lines above what appears to be the numbers '06' and '07' close to the ground.  What caught my attention was the strange symbol with twin loops carved with a single continuous line.  While surfing the web looking for Hooked X symbols in the signatures of famous explorers, one in particular jumped out.  Juan Ponce de Leon (1474-1521) was a Spanish explorer known to have visited the shores of what is now known as Florida while searching for the "Fountain of Youth."   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Ponce_de_Leon 

While there is no known record of the famous explorer ever sailing as far north as Nova Scotia, but that doesn't mean he could not have.  The symbol circled in the image of Juan Ponce de Leon's signature below is the reason I bring up the possibility.  The "de" in de Leon's signature is strikingly familiar to the double looped carving on the Overton Stone.  The only meaningful difference between the two symbols is the bottom end of the carved line on the far right bends to the left instead of the right.     


The "de" in the signature of Juan Ponce de Leon (circled in red) looks strikingly similar to the double looped carving on the Overton Stone.

The most likely timeline for what could have been a secret voyage to Nova Scotia are between 1493, when he traveled to the Caribbean as a crew member on Columbus' second voyage, and 1503.  The second would have been sometime after 1513.  While many of his expeditions are well documented with no mention of his traveling as far north as Nova Scotia, there are significant gaps in the records that could have made such a trip possible.  The other problem with Juan Ponce de Leon, who was known to have been very violent to the natives in the Caribbean, and the Overton Stone, is the carvings suggest some kind of agreement or strategic alliance with the local indigenous people.  This would be at odds with his known behavior.  However, if he had been in Nova Scotia with a small contingent so far from home, his attitude toward the natives may have been different.  

Regardless, the striking similarity of the two symbols and a possible connection to the famous Spanish explorer begs the question to be asked.  What do you think?       


The Spanish Explorer Juan Ponce de Leon is credited with the discovery of what is now known as Florida during his search for the "Fountain of Youth."




Sunday, September 3, 2017

A Preliminary Investigation into the Geology of the Overton Stone

On a perfect sunny day on August 31, 2017, my wife and I along with three friends hiked along the rocky shoreline of extreme southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada, to see, potentially, one of the most exciting petroglyphs in North America.  As we approached the two, car-sized boulders sitting on a slight rise roughly three-hundred feet from the ocean at low tide, the carvings quickly came into view. 

The carvings are on the south-facing surface of the larger boulder roughly four feet off the ground.  What stood out most prominently was the approximately six-inch tall Templar style cross encircled with an egg-shaped line that had four dots at the cardinal points at the flared ends of the cross.  The lower arm of the cross is longer than the other three resembling a Christian style cross some have interpreted to be connected to the Portuguese Templars.   Immediately left of the cross is what some say is a leaf, but to me it looks like a feather carved in detail.  Underneath the feather are what appears to be crossed tobacco leaves in the form of an “X.”  Immediately to the right of these is a carving of a crescent moon or possibly Venus.


Janet Wolter points the Overton Stone carvings of a Templar Cross, crossed tobacco leaves, a large feather and a crescent moon. (Courtesy of Patrick Shekleton)

My goals for the investigation were to document the rock type which is a strongly foliated mica schist, obtain a rock sample from the back side of the boulder for laboratory analysis of the mineralogy to try and understand aspects of the weathering, examine the depths and weathering aspects of the carvings, and to assess the site for possible archaeological assessment and possible dating of the carvings.  Fortunately, I was successful in all getting everything I hoped to accomplish on this trip done.  I’ll provide additional comments about the laboratory analysis of the rock and the archaeological work as results become available.

Of course, the significance of these carvings to my own and others’ research is huge.  If several centuries old they represent what was likely the consummation of a strategic alliance between a group of Knights Templar from Europe and the local indigenous people; the Mi’kmaq.  It would provide powerful new evidence that not only that pre-Columbian Templars visited these shores, but they had positive relations with Native Americas.  I have argued for years this allegiance was due in large part to their shared ideological views that included above all else a deep reverence of the Goddess they also called the, “Holy Mother.”  These carvings go a long way to proving this thesis was indeed true.  Stay tuned as we learn about these amazing carvings. 

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Richard Nielsen's Grail Code is Alive and Well

A quiet Sunday morning in July was interrupted by an email inquiry from a friend who asked me about an article written by my co-author of "The Kensington Rune Stone: Compelling New Evidence", Richard Nielsen.  This article entitled, "There is No Grail Code on the Kensington Rune Stone", appeared in the Epigraphic Society of Occasional Papers, Volume 27 (2009).  Pat asked me, "Why did Nielsen change his opinion about a discovery that he actually made?"  Pat continued, "After reading the ESOP article is looked like he (Nielsen) was more interested in trying to discredit you than prove anything about a Grail Code."

It has been over a year now since Dick passed away and Pat's questions prompted me to recall my days working with Nielsen and our joint discovery of what Dick and I decided to call, "The Grail Code."  Followers of our work might recall in 2002 I generated a microscopic photo-library of the entire inscription of the Kensington Stone that led to my documenting numerous previously unnoticed punch marks and short strokes made by the carver after the inscription was carved.  Dick and my analysis of these anomalies led to several discoveries including the so-called "Grail Code" first noticed by Nielsen who mentioned it to me.

Dick was quite proud of this discovery and made sure we included it in the introduction of our 2006 book.  You can imagine my surprise when his 2009 paper was published where he unconvincingly tried to make the Grail Code marks disappear using a low resolution 3D images generated during a study performed on the KRS in 2008.  Dick had grown impatient with me for reasons I still do not understand and appeared driven to undermine everything he and I had discovered together.  Regardless, this article, and others he wrote based on this 3D study, did nothing to undermine anything but his own credibility and positive legacy of the good work he did during his over 30 years researching the artifact.  

Nielsen asserts in the article that there was "staining" caused by a silicon rubber material used during the making of four casts of the artifact.  These claims are false and have nothing to do with the physical modifications made by the carver.  Nielsen claims there are man made dots present where there are none while at the same time claiming man made dots do not exist when clearly they do.  The evidence he put forth was in the form of photographs of such low resolution it was beneath him to have offered them.  Let's start with the first letter in the Grail Code.


This extremely low resolution image was offered as evidence that no single dot exists in the upper left arm of the ''g" rune on line one of the KRS inscription.  I don't believe Nielsen really thought an image of this poor quality would pass as legitimate evidence.


Here again Nielsen offers a very low resolution image trying to argue away a clear and distinct punch mark on the end of the lower right leg of the "r" rune.


Not only are the man made punch marks clear and obvious within the yellow circles in the images I generated in 2002, but the high resolution 3D microscopic images of the punch marks I took in 2011 clearly show their existence.


Nielsen then offers over century-old photographs known to have been retouched as evidence to try and prove no man made marks exist when they obviously do.



Here again, microscopic photographs taken in 2002, and high resolution 3D microscopic images taken in 2011, clearly show the existence of man made marks added to the character by the medieval carver.

The question is no longer if these modifications to the runes exist, the question now is did the carver intentionally try to encode the word "GRAL/Grail" within the inscription.  We cannot know with any certainty, but based on the related evidence I have presented in my three books that is consistent with the Kensington inscription having been carved by a Cistercian monk in the 14th Century it's very likely he did.  One thing I can assure the readers of this blog, in 2004 Richard Nielsen believed this to be true because he was the one who first offered the idea to me and insisted it be included in our 2006 book.  I want to be sure Dick gets credit for this discovery even though he tried unsuccessfully to back-peddle on it.

Jerry Lutgen generated this image of the Narragansett Rune Stone inscription using Reflective Transformation Imaging (RTI).  The 2-3/8” tall by 2” wide area to the left of the “s” rune on line one appears to have been hammered on or chipped out indiscriminately. (Photograph courtesy of the Jerry Lutgen, 2014)   



Saturday, July 1, 2017

New Kensington Rune Stone Visitor Center Construction Progressing Nicely


Recently I received an email update from Brad Bonk at Douglas County about the progress of construction of the new Kensington Rune Stone Visitors Center at the Ohman Farm in Kensington, Minnesota.  The Ohman Family has long hoped a visitor's center would be constructed at the farm to tell the story about their ancestors who first physically homesteaded the property in 1890.  The center will also present educational information about the important historical artifact Olof Ohman and his two sons, Olof Jr. and Edward, discovered while clearing trees on the property in preparation for farming in the fall of 1898.  While the history of the century-plus long controversy of the authenticity of the artifact will be a part of the information presented, the weight of evidence supporting authenticity, together with the lack of evidence supporting the "belief" by many it was a modern hoax, have appropriately put the emphasis on celebrating the important historical artifact that it is.

Because both Darwin Ohman and I provided technical and historical input into the design of the displays and interpretive information to be presented, we can tell you it is going to be an excellent educational tool.  I know the public will be impressed and very proud of this state-of-the-art facility that will tell the story about this incredible historical artifact and the Ohman Family who first brought it to the attention of the world, especially for young people and children.  It's long overdue that the artifact and the family are finally getting the proper respect and recognition they so richly deserve.  I look forward to the grand opening scheduled for the fall of 2017.

You can read about the progress at the park at the following link:    

https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http://www.echopress.com/news/4284241-kensington-rune-stone-visitor-center-progress-schedule&c=E,1,dMrNg2PBRQwmr8wLft2t2u8LT9bvkkQA_HzLmOyN9SF5bKaGrLvc1R4IBil6K4mX4ljt88BmLX0DjhJr-7Ag9phpp2HBlusLMvMyYQCtFltIqVD36pX3k-mm&typo=1


The concrete cast-in-place footings and walls were recently placed for the new Kensington Rune Stone Visitor Center currently under construction at the Ohman Farm in Kensington, Minnesota, which is now a Douglas County Park. 



Arial view of the Ohman Farm.  The new visitor's center is located in the open area between the road and the trees in the upper middle area not far from the original Ohman home.


This photo was taken by the Ohman Family in the late 1950's.  The original house on the left and barn on the right have been preserved and still stand.  The original wind vane erected to pump water from the well was taken down decades ago.  However, it was recently relocated and re-erected after being purchased and returned to the farm.

Saturday, April 8, 2017

Correction Needed In Zena Halpern's New Templar Book

On page 218 of Zena Halpern's new book about her decade-long research about a secret Templar document titled, The Templar Mission to Oak Island and Beyond, there are two mistakes that directly involve me that need to be corrected.  Beneath the photograph of what the author calls a "Paleo-Hebrew Carving" she wrote the following, "Geologist Scott Wolter tested the rock at a university laboratory and concluded, based on the weathering, that this carving was at least "many centuries old.""

First, the stone was not examined in a university laboratory, it was examined in my materials forensic laboratory at American Petrographic Services, Inc., in St. Paul Minnesota, in 2006.  This error is minor compared to the second error that deals with her reporting of my conclusion.  I did not conclude the weathering of the inscription on this stone was "many centuries old" because I was unable to make such a statement based on the results of the analysis I performed.  In fact, on page three of my report titled, The Catskill Mountains Inscription, that was published in the Epigraphic Society of Occasional Papers (ESOP), Volume 25, I concluded the following, "It is quite clear that the inscription was carved into fresh rock below the weathered surface and those surfaces have since weathered. That weathering profile appears less developed than the original weathered surface indicating that the inscription is younger. The age of the weathering is unclear. However, it appears that the weathering of the inscription has taken many years to develop."

Let me be clear that the weathering of the inscription could, in fact, be many centuries old.  However, without a properly documented provenance of where this stone was discovered and the specific environmental conditions it was exposed to I cannot say with any certainty how old the weathering of carved grooves are.

The inscribed stone from the Catskill Mountains in the state of New York has six clearly visible characters carved into the surface and has approximate dimensions of 9 1/2” (237 mm) x 2 ¾” (69 mm) x 1 1/8” (28 mm) thick.

A small piece was cut off the stone and a thin section was made for microscopic review.

A thin section of the greywacke was reviewed and is comprised of mostly sub-angular to sub-rounded greywacke comprised of quartz, feldspar, lithic fragments with a fine-grained matrix of sericite and minor opaque minerals (cross polarized light 40X).

The average depth of the carved lines in the inscription is 1.5 mm.  The inscription was carved through the 0.5 mm thick previously existing weathered surface into fresh rock (10X).

A clearly defined, light colored weathering profile was observed at the surface to a depth of 0.5 mm (30X).

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Guest Blogger Musings About the Hooked X


The following post was submitted by Patrick Shekleton and in the interest of full disclosure I had no input into the content of this paper.  I simply reviewed it for appropriateness to be submitted on my blog.  Pat has obviously put in a lot of work into this infinitely complicated subject matter.  Reading it brought back many memories of my days working with Richard Nielsen and Henrik Williams on the language, runes, dialect and grammar of the North American runes stones that contain the Hooked X®.  Take your time and try to absorb the information that while dense, is very good and important research. 

Enjoy...

THE NORTH AMERICAN HOOKED X®

If one has an interest in the North American rune stones, then the Hooked X® character found on the Kensington Rune Stone (1898), Spirit Pond Rune Stones (1971), and the Narragansett Rune Stone (1984) represents an element of the broader discussion.

The Hooked X® form, along with its dotted (umlauted), macron (bar above), and double vowel (bar below) variant forms, have been identified as performing the basic linguistic function associated with the vowel, or vowel combinations, of -a, -æ, and -aa.

Table 1. A synopsis of transliterated words from the KRS and SPR inscriptions which contain the vowel form -a, -æ, and   -aa. This sample is illustrative of the variance one will find in the larger body of inscription transliterations with respect to the Hooked X® form (or variant).


Fig. 1  George T. Flom’s inventory of KRS rune forms as presented on page 26 in his 1910 address.


Fig. 2  Richard Nielsen and Scott Wolter’s inventory of KRS rune forms presented on page 64 of their 2006 published work.



Fig. 3  Barry J. Hanson’s inventory of KRS rune forms as presented on page B-3 in his 2002 published work.


Figs. 4 and 5. Richard Nielsen’s Spirit Pond Rune Stone usage cases for the a-rune as found on pp. 94-95 of his 1992 published work. [Cited text of Cleasby is available at https://archive.org/details/icelandicenglish00cleauoft]

SYMBOLIC INTERPRETATIONS OF HOOKED X®


The asserted symbolic meaning(s) of the Hooked X® form, whether found on runic carvings (KRS/SPR/NRS), within manuscripts (Cremona Document, Icelandic, etc.), or upon symbolic carvings (Westford Knight and Jesus Ossuary Lid), have proven to be as contentious as they are interesting.

 UNIQUE A-RUNE FORM, THE OPPONENTS POINT OF VIEW

Long before the present-day conversation on symbolic meanings of the Hooked X® commenced, the conversation revolved around the unique runic form of the a-rune and whether there were valid historical antecedents that might explain the lineage of the character form.

George Flom, a non-supporter of authenticity, remarked in his 1910 published work that the X with a hook form for -a and -æ were “from a different runic alphabet, and some suggest modern compromises with corresponding Latin letters.” Further on, he postulated that the X with a hook form on the KRS was analogous to the simple X form representing the vowel -a found on inscriptions in Dalarne region of Sweden around c. 1600. [5]

 In 2006, Nielsen and Wolter’s published work presented a case against the Darlecarlian Rune forms being the basis for the KRS inscription, despite the close parallel of its simple X form representing the -a vowel. [6]

Danish runologist Erik Moltke, a non-supporter of authenticity, wrote in 1949 (as cited by Swedish runologist Sven B. F. Jansson’s re-printed 1949 article contained within Barry J. Hanson’s 2002 book):

Around 1100 under influence from the Latin alphabet there came about a change in the runic alphabet, which from having had a content of 16 or 19 characters now acquired just as many as the Latin alphabet. Simultaneously a number of the runes were simplified. A [Younger Futhark], which in the alphabet of Viking times was crossed, i.e. consisted of a vertical primary stroke and a skew secondary stroke crossing the primary stroke, now became one-sided, i.e. the secondary stroke no longer crossed the primary stroke; the old Viking time form was retained but took the value æ …Look at the drawing of the Kensington Stone and see what an abortion it uses as an a-rune [Hooked X® symbol shown]. [7]     

 Moltke’s descriptive term of the a-rune form notwithstanding, he submits a fair treatment of how the Latin alphabet, and by implicit understanding, its characters and vowel combinations, were re-shaping the runic language in Scandinavia.

 UNIQUE A-RUNE FORM, THE PROPONENTS POINT OF VIEW

The Swedish lexicographer, Professor Hjalmar Lindroth, created some consternation in 1938 when his letter to Professor Richard Hennig was published. Again, we turn to Sven B. F. Jansson’s re-printed 1949 article contained within Barry J. Hanson’s 2002 book, this time citing Jansson directly:

Hjalmar Lindroth has of course in a frequently cited statement from 1938 asserted that the runologist “should not categorically insist on falsification, until he has been able to demonstrate the origin of the runic alphabet of the stones”. The statement shows that Lindroth in fact believed that the Kensington Stone’s “rune row” was a rune row in the true sense; that these symbols have been used in other inscriptions than the Kensington Stone and that they therefore in principle have the same character as e.g. that of the 16-character rune row. [author’s emphasis] [8]

 Jansson continued, creating the impression with this author that Lindroth espoused authenticity for the KRS:

This makes things worse. As regards his demand on the runologist that he is obliged to show where the mystical symbols have come from [which includes the a-rune form, one has the right to reply that any person with a normal imagination can make up an impressive number of symbols which runologists and others will in vain seek prototypes for - within existing rune rows. [9]

Jansson was replying to a dead man, a fellow native of Sweden - for Professor Hjalmar Lindroth had passed away two years prior. [10]

Ironically, this author’s initial impression from Jansson’s article that Lindroth espoused authenticity was mistaken – Lindroth, according to Hjalmar R. Holand, had a position of “strict neutrality” [11] regarding the authenticity of the KRS.

Professor William Thalbitzer, a Danish philologist whose educational background included Danish, English, and Latin studies at the University of Copenhagen prior to focusing on the Greenlandic language post-graduation [12], originally considered the KRS to be a fraud. Then Thalbitzer’s viewpoint shifted:

For a long time I, too, had considered the Kensington stone a fraud, and the late Prof. Finnur Jonsson and other Scandinavian runologists confirmed my view. However, from time to time certain fresh facts bearing on the matter have come to light, in archeology, runology, and philology, especially Prof. Axel Kock's later studies on medieval Swedish dialects. As new light is gradually being thrown on this amazing find from the West, I cannot but waver in my doubt and am forced to see the question from a new viewpoint. Not only Holand's books but my own investigations as well have set me thinking along new lines.2 I now maintain that this matter in its entirety is worthy of restudy ; it seems to me that, after all, the inscription may be authentic. [13]

One aspect of Thalbitzer’s investigation involved a paleographic comparison of the carved runic forms of the KRS (dated 1362) characters against the corresponding written character forms found in manuscripts in Sweden encompassing the 1164 to 1513 time-frame.



Fig. 6. Rune form table found in William Thalbitzer’s 1951 published work. The right-hand column inventory of majuscules and minuscules stemming from the 1164 to 1513 time period were collated and published in 1838. This 1838 work, Historie och Antikvitets-Akademien Handlingar, is not accessible online.


Fig. 7 Character specimens for the a-rune form.

Thalbitzer recognized that potential authenticity of inscribed character rune forms was not to be judged on the singular basis of the form having to be inscribed upon a medium such as stone, lead, or wood, but that a parallel form found within scribal manuscripts would suffice as being authentic proof for a unique rune form character. In simple terms, the absence of an inscribed runic character form in the Scandinavian runic inscription corpus did not disqualify a North American runic inscription with unique character forms from being authentic.

Nor did Thalbitzer state, or even suggest, that scribal character forms could only be considered valid if they were singularly found within the Scandinavian manuscript corpus [this author acknowledges that discovery of the scribal character forms within the aforementioned corpus eliminates questions revolving around cultural transmission].

Thalbitzer – and others - explicitly understood that the runic language was in flux by the 1300s, primarily due to the transmission of the more versatile Latin language via the introduction of Christianity. Other historical transmission paths include Viking/Norse travel to the Latin-speaking areas outside the Baltic and North Sea geographic area, the involvement of Scandinavian parties in the Crusades, and the increasing trade networks which involved, again, Latin-speaking agencies.

PRESENT-DAY INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCH ON THE UNIQUE A-RUNE FORM

Thalbitzer, and other researchers, were limited in their day to what historical material they could access. In today’s Internet-era, access – in terms of volume, speed, and ease - has expanded the corpus of archival materials that may be screened by researchers for a-rune character forms, or an analogous Latin character form. It has also placed an increased premium for researchers, especially those who find themselves outside the realm of their typical everyday existence, to be discriminating.

Simply finding an X with a hook is not sufficiently discriminating to assert that the symbol is comparable to the a-rune character form found on the North American rune stones. The character form must be used in the context of an -a, -ae, or -aa vowel, or suitably shown as a possible orthographic predecessor, and its form must be sufficiently unambiguous.   

Distinction must be made between hooks and tails on Xs predicated by the paleographic script-style. By design, Xs in Gothic script have tail hooks, so these Xs are not valid hits. Scribal flourishing sometimes places tail hooks on Xs, but this presentation is easy to distinguish because the word will fail the vowel test. Lastly, character forms must be screened to ensure that the dreaded “ink splotch” hooks do not gain admission.

At this point, it’s now a race between mind-numbing brain fatigue and your eyeballs bleeding – but Xs with hooks do “pop” on occasion. A previous blog post in December 2015 encapsulating Steve DiMarzo’s manuscript screening laid out some examples which satisfied the then-nascent entry criteria.

I am not trying to be “crafty” by stating “suitably shown as a possible orthographic predecessor.” We are simply using Thalbitzer’s investigative thread, his hunch, that perhaps the unique a-rune character had a Latin lineage concurrent or prior to surviving Scandinavian scribal records.  


Fig. 8. A pseudo-X with a hook form on a c. 1122 English manuscript map. The map’s descriptive labels are written in Latin. The hook is offset from the leg end. No other Xs on the map follow this form. The contemporaneous Latin spelling of this symbol represents an -æ. As the language matured and became more simplified the -æ abbreviated to the singular sound represented by -e. The pseudo-X with a hook form is a breviograph – a symbol that represents a scribal abbreviation for the Latin -æ spelling and sound. The -æ Latin dipthong originally was the Greek -ai dipthong. [Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts; British Library; http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=16645]


Fig. 9. A distinct X with a hook character form on a 1508 Italian cartographic product. The same map sheet contains normal Xs (absent the hook). The character form is, again, a breviograph. Cross-typing against a 1515 manuscript indicates that the breviograph was used either for the vowel -i, or the vowel combination -æ. No other Xs on this particular map folio follow this form.


Fig. 10. Two Xs with a hook character form on a 1508 Italian cartographic product. The same map sheet contains normal Xs (absent the hook). The character form is, again, a breviograph. Cross-typing against a 1515 manuscript indicates that the breviograph was used for the vowel/vowel combination -ia, -æ, or an -a. In medieval manuscripts dating back to 9th century, the Lunæ word had spelling derivatives of Luna and Lune.


Fig. 11. Two Xs with a hook character form on a 1508 Italian cartographic product. The same map sheet contains normal Xs (absent the hook). The character form is, again, a breviograph. A cross-typing against a 1515 manuscript indicates that the breviograph was used for the vowel/vowel combination -ia, -æ, or an -a. Sina is CHINA.


Fig. 12 Collated notes.

To more fully understand the significance of the X-like character forms on the c. 1122 and 1508 maps, I emailed a paleography expert. He graciously replied:

“I have had a look at the images you sent me. In my humble opinion, as you suggested, the X shape is simply the Latin ligature for the diphthong "ae" (fusion of bindings), in which the hook you mentioned is the medial "tongue" of the letter "e" which extends up to the top. And yes, the "ai" Greek ligature transitioned to the "ae" digraph in Latin.”

FINAL THOUGHTS

Was William Thalbitzer on the right path in suggesting that a possible source, or influence, for the unique a-rune character form might have migrated into the main of Scandinavia, rather than originating there?

Consider this:

-The written breviograph symbols on the c. 1122 English and 1508 Italian maps involve the vowel, or vowel combinations, of -a, -æ, -ea, -i, and -ia;

-The breviograph symbol form on the maps resemble the -a and -æ character forms found in Swedish manuscripts for more than four centuries (1164 to 1513); and

-The Hooked X® character forms of the KRS (1362) and SPR (1401/02) have been phonetically connected to the -a, -æ, and -aa vowel, or vowel combinations.
T
hat the Hooked X®, or its alternate, the X with a hook, is a unique character form is an understatement. I don’t specifically look for that character form, but if I am in an old manuscript – primarily researching geodesy and astronomy related topics – I keep an eye peeled for Arced-X (Spirit Pond Rune Stone) and Hooked X® symbols (KRS/SPR/NRS).

The initial find on the 1508 World Atlas was fortuitous, the additional four discoveries are attributed to the detailed screening done by Steve DiMarzo and David Ulrich.

Given the incredible paucity of the Hooked X® character form existent within surviving historical records, it begs the question as to how such a truly obscure symbol even found its way onto ANY of the North American rune stones?


Somehow it did, and considering that the only definitive Hooked X® character forms from the Medieval and early Middle Age eras have all been found beyond the borders of Sweden/Norway/Denmark, albeit the few that have been found to this point, it seems that some place other than Sweden was its point of origination. But where?

REFERENCES
Flom, George T. The Kensington rune-stone: an address by George T. Flom, delivered before the Illinois State Historical Society at its annual meeting, May 5-6, 1910 at Springfield, Illinois. Springfield: Phillips Bros., 1910. Retrieved February 2016 https://archive.org/details/kensingtonrunest00flom.
Hanson, Barry J. Kensington Runestone: A Defense of Olof Ohman, the Accused Forger. Maple, WI: Available from Archaeology ITM, 2002.
Holand, Hjalmar Rued. Norse Discoveries and Explorations in America, 982-1362; Leif Erikson to the Kensington Stone. New York: Dover Publications, 1969.
Nielsen, Richard. “The Spirit Pond Runestones of Maine: A Proposed Dating and Tentative Translation.” The Epigraphic Society of Occasional Papers, 21 (1992): 92-113.
Nielsen, Richard, and Scott F. Wolter. The Kensington Rune Stone: Compelling New Evidence. Place of Publication Not Identified: Lake Superior Agate Pub., 2006.

Schöner, Johann. Luculentissima quaedā terrae totius descriptio: cū multis vtilissimis cosmographiæ iniciis. Nouaq, & q̄ ante fuit verior Europæ nostræ formatio. Præterea, fluuiorū ... & gentium q̄plurimorū vetustissima nomina recentioribus admixta vocabulis .. Noribergæ: Impressum ī excusoria officina Ioannis Stuchssen, 1515. Retrieved December 2016 https://archive.org/details/luculentissimaqu00schn.
Stevenson, Edward Luther. Atlas of Portolan Charts. Facsimile of manuscript in British Museum. (Egerton Manuscript no. 2803.) Edited by Edward Luther Stevenson. New York, 1911. Retrieved December 2016 https://archive.org/details/atlasofportolanc00magg
Thalbitzer, William Carl. Two runic stones, from Greenland and Minnesota. City of Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1951. [No copyright restrictions] Retrieved July 2016 from https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/22869/SMC_116_Thalbitzer_1951_3_1-71.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
ENDNOTES
1. Flom, page 28, 1910.
2. Nielsen & Wolter, page 64, 2006.
3. Hanson, pages C1-C5, 2002.
4. Nielsen, pages 105-110, 1992.
5. Flom, page 21, 1910.
6. Nielsen and Wolter, page 91, 2006.
7. Hanson, page F-27, 2002.
8. Hanson, page F-26, 2002.
9. Ibid.
11. Holand, page 327, 1969 (original printing 1940).
13. Thalbitzer, page 4, 1951.