Red sandstone runestone. Only fragments remain; the original length is estimated to be at least 1.5 metres. The inscription runs in a band along three of the sides. There is no other decoration. It begins in the bottom row with: “...self this stone for me. And in memory of Gerulv, my brother I raised a cairn." It has not been possible to make out the inscription on the short side, but on the upper side it runs “...And the three ancestral mothers each had six children, the best”. The reference to the ancestral mothers or matriarchs is evidence of how important kinship was, and how this applied equally to the female lineage as to the male line. The fragment was probably a part of a side slab of a coffin in Ärja Church in Södermanland. From there, in a broken form, it was moved to nearby Kärnbo Church where it functioned as a step stone, until it was later moved again to Mariefred. The appearance of the runestone dates the monument to the 9th or 10th century. Kärnbo Church, Kärnbo Parish, Södermanland.
Image rights: Ola Myrin, Historiska museet/SHM (CC BY 4.0)
