Ancient Viking artifacts from Minnesota

[SweepNbeep]

When I was a kid our Cub Scout troop went to visit the Runestone museum in Alexandria, MN. I remember being fascinated by it, and I still am. While highly controversial, and considered by many to be a hoax, the fact remains that not only did they discover this stone in West Central MN, but there have been numerous Viking artifacts recovered from the area, and in Wisconsin, and other places. I've seen these pieces several times, and they still strike awe in me. I took my kids there awhile back. I shot these photos a couple years ago when I was there. Sorry for the poor quality, they were taken with a phone, in a case, through glass, but you get the point. It's easy to dismiss these finds as bogus, but when you see them with your own eyes, it's hard not to believe. Were the Vikings into Minnesota before Columbus was born? How the heck should I know? But I'd like to think so, and the evidence has to at least be considered. Judge for yourself. Living not far from where these were found, it is my ultimate dream to find a relic like this. For more information, just google Kensington Runestone.

[old digger]

Thanks for sharing that. Makes one want to search the area with a detector for more possible finds.

[ToddsPoint]

I personally don't believe it is a hoax. I knew about the runestone but never saw any of those artifacts. The design of those tools screams Norse. There's probably more of those convincing artifacts still in the ground around there. Hope you score one. Gary

[SweepNbeep]

Damn Vikings have been here since 1362, and still haven’t won a Super Bowl.

[SweepNbeep]

Thanks for sharing that. Makes one want to search the area with a detector for more possible finds.

That’s part of why I don’t always get much detecting done in a day. I can’t help but dig iron signals. It’s usually a waste of time, but once in awhile it’s something cool like an axe or a horseshoe. I have axes from three states, and the coolest is a big double edged blade from MN. Not Norse, but just as well could have been 1 in a million chance that it was. Problem is these artifacts from the 1360’s are typically found by accident, and three feet down. I’d either need to get super lucky, or get a different detector. Don’t the the ol’ AT Pro goes that deep.

[SweepNbeep]

That’s part of why I don’t always get much detecting done in a day. I can’t help but dig iron signals. It’s usually a waste of time, but once in awhile it’s something cool like an axe or a horseshoe. I have axes from three states, and the coolest is a big double edged blade from MN. Not Norse, but just as well could have been 1 in a million chance that it was. Problem is these artifacts from the 1360’s are typically found by accident, and three feet down. I’d either need to get super lucky, or get a different detector. Don’t the the ol’ AT Pro goes that deep.

Also found a few Native American trade points that way. I almost curse those things, because now I’m a slave to digging iron. But I actually love them.

[GoDeep]

I'm from Minnesota and my ancestors directly immigrated from Norway. Finding artifacts from Norway or Scandinavia in Minnesota is neither uncommon, nor an indicator or pre-settlement presence. Scandanavian settlers of Minnesota brought the tools of their trade with them from their homeland.

The Rune Stone on the other hand. Hoax or not, it was a hoax from well over a 100 years ago, making it cool none the less. Kind of like finding old forged coins, still some historical significance to them.

[Fat]

If fake the fakers went to a lot of work. A bucket lister for me is to sail in a Viking style ship.
I’ve gone baserk a couple times the Twinks won, it makes up for the purples

[SweepNbeep]

I'm from Minnesota and my ancestors directly immigrated from Norway. Finding artifacts from Norway in Minnesota is neither uncommon, nor an indicator or pre-settlement presence. Norwegian settlers of Minnesota brought the tools of their trade with them from Norway.

The Rune Stone on the other hand. Hoax or not, it was a hoax from well over a 100 years ago, making it cool none the less. Kind of like finding old forged coins, still some historical significance to them.

Valid points, and I don't dispute them. But a guy would think that if these were brought from Norway by settlers, they would have been cherished family heirlooms, and not been used to clear land. If these are as old as they claim, a Norwegian settler in 1850 still would have been swinging a 500 year old axe. Kinda hard for me to believe, and I doubt they would have been found up to three feet deep, unless of course the whole thing is a hoax. Who knows? What a marvelous mystery.

[SweepNbeep]

If fake the fakers went to a lot of work.

And by all accounts, the guy who discovered it was ridiculed his entire life, and his family harassed to no end. Who would want to go through that, and for what? He claimed till the day he died the stone was real. I read a book on it once, forgot more than I remember, but that's more or less what happened.

[SweepNbeep]

Another thing that just crossed my mind is this. I grew up in the part of Minnesota that was settled almost exclusively by German settlers. I find their stuff all the time. It's about as old as you'd expect, a lot of it mid to late 1800's. But I have never heard of anyone discovering 700 year old German artifacts anywhere in the state. Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that if the Norwegian settlers brought along 500 year old tools, and dropped them around, so would have the Germans and every other group of people? It just doesn't add up to me. But I will admit to being biased, in that I want to believe it's true, because it would just be so fascinating if it were.

[GoDeep]

Another thing that just crossed my mind is this. I grew up in the part of Minnesota that was settled almost exclusively by German settlers. I find their stuff all the time. It's about as old as you'd expect, a lot of it mid to late 1800's. But I have never heard of anyone discovering 700 year old German artifacts anywhere in the state. Wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that if the Norwegian settlers brought along 500 year old tools, and dropped them around, so would have the Germans and every other group of people? It just doesn't add up to me. But I will admit to being biased, in that I want to believe it's true, because it would just be so fascinating if it were.

I have tools that are a couple hundred years old, just passed on from generation to generation. Back in the 1850's, having tools were rarer and more cherished and having one a couple hundred years old would have dated to the 1650's. They weren't just a trip down to Ace Hardware to replace. Also, many of those tools pictured aren't 700 years old. Also, one can't assume that all those tools found were necessarily drops or found in the field, some no doubt were salvaged or some were lost or others donated and it's difficult to verify their origin and method of acquisition (such as, found here in America, made by Scandinavians here in America, or transported from Scandinavia).

A good example here in south east Minnesota: there were several mills and homesteads that washed away in the 1850's and 1860's, thus depositing family heirlooms and tools that later can or will be found (i'm still searching for some of them).

[GoDeep]

Also of interest from an evidence standpoint, notice how most of these "finds" were found over a 100 years ago? They aren't from the metal detecting age. It was known that during that time, that there was rivalry between Sweden and Norway (that once was one country ) for who had discovered America, and it is thought this stone was forged to promote a narrative.

Also, I assume the artifacts shown are from the same private Museum that has a vested interest in promoting the Rune Stone as "real".

[dts52]

That’s part of why I don’t always get much detecting done in a day. I can’t help but dig iron signals. It’s usually a waste of time, but once in awhile it’s something cool like an axe or a horseshoe. I have axes from three states, and the coolest is a big double edged blade from MN. Not Norse, but just as well could have been 1 in a million chance that it was. Problem is these artifacts from the 1360’s are typically found by accident, and three feet down. I’d either need to get super lucky, or get a different detector. Don’t the the ol’ AT Pro goes that deep.

I have the same curse... can’t ignore those iron signals which, 99% of the time, are square nails, barbed wire and the like. Even though the machine tells me that it’s iron, I can’t help thinking “But what if it’s something really cool?” and then waste my time digging junk, not to mention having finds pouches loaded down with it.

I hope you score a Viking hoard like they do in the UK.
dts

[Madmox]

The biggest problem with the runestones is that the runes used and the syntax and vernacular and language for the alleged time is all wrong. *according to the “experts” for what that’s worth