A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book
A brick with a runic inscription from the Episcopal Castle of Kuusisto
Authors: Ratilainen, Tanja; Harjula, Janne; Kinnunen, Jussi; Leppänen, Jere
Editors: Heinonen, Tuuli, Ehrnsten, Frida, Harjula, Janne, Knuutinen, Tarja, Ratilainen, Tanja, Terävä, Elina, Tuomenoja, Siiri & Haarala, Janne
Edition: 1st
Publication year: 2025
Book title : Shattered and Scattered Pasts, Festschrift for Professor Georg Haggrén
Series title: Archaeologia Medii Aevi Finlandiae (AMAF)
Number in series: 31
First page : 135
Last page: 150
ISBN: 978-952-69004-8-3
eISBN: 978-952-69004-9-0
ISSN: 1236-5882
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://www.skas.fi/etusivu/amaf-sarja/digiamaf/
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/508537531
Self-archived copy's version: Publisher`s PDF
A brick with a runic inscription was discovered in the 1980s during excavations of the outer bailey II of the bishop's castle of Kuusisto in SW Finland. In this article we present a transcription for the characters executed in medieval futhark and propose an interpretation for their purpose. A comparison with 27 other known medieval cases from Scandinavia shows that most of the inscribed stones come from Denmark and are mostly from ecclesiastical contexts. The interpretation of the inscription remains speculative, but it may have had an apotropaic purpose and been executed by someone involved in brick making, perhaps from southern Scandinavia. Nevertheless, the brick with the runic inscription is the first of its kind from Finland. In the Finnish context, this is the first Scandinavian language inscription on a brick from a non-urban environment.
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