A new research project in Denmark will use 3D scanning and archaeological investigations to uncover the social and political networks of the Viking Age. By examining centuries-old runestones, researchers hope to reveal new details about the people who commissioned these monuments and their roles in the formation of the Danish kingdom.
The National Museum of Denmark has announced a major interdisciplinary project that will investigate many of the country’s approximately 260 surviving runestones. Dating from around AD 600 to 1100, these monuments provide some of the most important written evidence left by the Vikings themselves.
The project, which will run from 2027 to 2031, has received 4.2 million Danish kroner (€560,000) in funding from the Augustinus Foundation. It brings together researchers from the National Museum, the University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University, the Swedish National Heritage Board and several local museums.
Reconstructing Viking Networks
The Glavendrup Monument. Photo: National Museum of Denmark
Although the inscriptions on Denmark’s runestones have been studied extensively, researchers still know relatively little about how the individuals mentioned on them were connected to one another.
“The runestones are some of our most iconic monuments from the Viking Age, but they float around in the historical sea like isolated icebergs because they cannot be connected in local networks and thus give us a greater overall understanding,” explains Lisbeth Imer, a runologist and senior researcher at the National Museum of Denmark.
“Although we know what is written on the runestones, there is still much we do not know about their significance, location and context, but which we can now learn more about using new methods. We will try to understand how they are connected so that the runestones can be better used as actual historical documents in writing the history of the Viking Age.”
One of the project’s principal methods will be 3D scanning, allowing researchers to examine the marks left by the tools used to carve the inscriptions. Differences in carving techniques may make it possible to identify individual rune carvers and establish connections between monuments.
The technique has already produced important results. In 2023, researchers used 3D scanning to identify the carver of the famous Jelling Stone as Ravnunge-Tue, whose name also appears on the Læborg runestone. That discovery helped establish new connections between monuments associated with Queen Thyra, the mother of Harald Bluetooth.
Runestones as Legal and Political Documents
The Læborg runestone. Photo: National Museum of Denmark
Beyond identifying individual carvers, the project will investigate how runestones functioned as religious, legal and political monuments. Researchers will consider whether erecting a runestone could have been part of a ritual or a means of recording agreements between individuals and families. The inscriptions may also provide evidence about property rights during the Viking Age.
One question is whether the property laws recorded in later medieval documents were already established during the Viking period, or whether they changed following the introduction of Christianity, particularly as people began donating land and property to the Church.
The project will also investigate the original settings of selected runestones. Most surviving Danish examples have been moved from their original locations, making it difficult to understand their relationship to the surrounding landscape.
Using geophysical surveys, researchers hope to identify archaeological features beneath the ground and determine whether particular stones originally stood beside important trade routes, near farms or alongside burial monuments.
Understanding the Formation of Denmark
Lisbeth Imer. Photo: National Museum of Denmark
The research covers a period of major political and social transformation, when the smaller kingdoms of the Iron Age gradually developed into a unified Danish kingdom.
By combining inscriptions, carving techniques and archaeological evidence, researchers hope to reconstruct the relationships between the people who commissioned, carved and erected these monuments.
“The runestones are key artefacts from the Viking Age, and the project’s results will be of great importance for understanding the runestone tradition in Denmark,” says Imer. She adds that the research will allow historians to reconstruct the social networks of historical individuals mentioned on runestones more comprehensively than has previously been possible.
Denmark’s approximately 260 runestones form part of a much wider Scandinavian tradition. Around 2,500 examples survive in Sweden, alongside approximately 50 in Norway and another 50 in the British Isles.
The project could therefore offer new insights not only into the development of the Danish kingdom, but also into how power, family relationships and political authority were expressed across the Viking world.
Top Image: 3D scanning a runestone. Photo courtesy National Museum of Denmark
A new research project in Denmark will use 3D scanning and archaeological investigations to uncover the social and political networks of the Viking Age. By examining centuries-old runestones, researchers hope to reveal new details about the people who commissioned these monuments and their roles in the formation of the Danish kingdom.
The National Museum of Denmark has announced a major interdisciplinary project that will investigate many of the country’s approximately 260 surviving runestones. Dating from around AD 600 to 1100, these monuments provide some of the most important written evidence left by the Vikings themselves.
The project, which will run from 2027 to 2031, has received 4.2 million Danish kroner (€560,000) in funding from the Augustinus Foundation. It brings together researchers from the National Museum, the University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University, the Swedish National Heritage Board and several local museums.
Reconstructing Viking Networks
Although the inscriptions on Denmark’s runestones have been studied extensively, researchers still know relatively little about how the individuals mentioned on them were connected to one another.
“The runestones are some of our most iconic monuments from the Viking Age, but they float around in the historical sea like isolated icebergs because they cannot be connected in local networks and thus give us a greater overall understanding,” explains Lisbeth Imer, a runologist and senior researcher at the National Museum of Denmark.
“Although we know what is written on the runestones, there is still much we do not know about their significance, location and context, but which we can now learn more about using new methods. We will try to understand how they are connected so that the runestones can be better used as actual historical documents in writing the history of the Viking Age.”
One of the project’s principal methods will be 3D scanning, allowing researchers to examine the marks left by the tools used to carve the inscriptions. Differences in carving techniques may make it possible to identify individual rune carvers and establish connections between monuments.
The technique has already produced important results. In 2023, researchers used 3D scanning to identify the carver of the famous Jelling Stone as Ravnunge-Tue, whose name also appears on the Læborg runestone. That discovery helped establish new connections between monuments associated with Queen Thyra, the mother of Harald Bluetooth.
Runestones as Legal and Political Documents
Beyond identifying individual carvers, the project will investigate how runestones functioned as religious, legal and political monuments. Researchers will consider whether erecting a runestone could have been part of a ritual or a means of recording agreements between individuals and families. The inscriptions may also provide evidence about property rights during the Viking Age.
One question is whether the property laws recorded in later medieval documents were already established during the Viking period, or whether they changed following the introduction of Christianity, particularly as people began donating land and property to the Church.
The project will also investigate the original settings of selected runestones. Most surviving Danish examples have been moved from their original locations, making it difficult to understand their relationship to the surrounding landscape.
Using geophysical surveys, researchers hope to identify archaeological features beneath the ground and determine whether particular stones originally stood beside important trade routes, near farms or alongside burial monuments.
Understanding the Formation of Denmark
The research covers a period of major political and social transformation, when the smaller kingdoms of the Iron Age gradually developed into a unified Danish kingdom.
By combining inscriptions, carving techniques and archaeological evidence, researchers hope to reconstruct the relationships between the people who commissioned, carved and erected these monuments.
“The runestones are key artefacts from the Viking Age, and the project’s results will be of great importance for understanding the runestone tradition in Denmark,” says Imer. She adds that the research will allow historians to reconstruct the social networks of historical individuals mentioned on runestones more comprehensively than has previously been possible.
Denmark’s approximately 260 runestones form part of a much wider Scandinavian tradition. Around 2,500 examples survive in Sweden, alongside approximately 50 in Norway and another 50 in the British Isles.
The project could therefore offer new insights not only into the development of the Danish kingdom, but also into how power, family relationships and political authority were expressed across the Viking world.
Top Image: 3D scanning a runestone. Photo courtesy National Museum of Denmark
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