Yes, I get by with a little help from my friends....
It's time to give credit to some people that really deserve it. I'm talking about those that have contributed with photos of runic inscriptions to this site :

Sm 80 from Vallsjö in Småland, Sweden - Rafael

U 72, U 91, U 92, U 419 and U 871 from Uppland, Sweden - Björn
N 83, which is a runic inscription in Vang stave church - Kornel
NIæR 9 from Stenstad in Norway + DR 77, DR 125, DR 135, DR 192 and
DR EM85;211 from Denmark - Arild
( here's a link to Arilds internet-site on runic inscriptions )
DR 378 and DR 379 from Bornholm in Denmark - Jeanne
VR 1 U from Järsberg in Sweden - Bengt-Åke
Some rare ones, like NIæR 7, N 3, N 12, N A? and G 227 - Andrey
Manx crosses from Isle of Man, Great Britain - Ogneslav
Most of the rune stones from Gotland, Sweden - Ogneslav
Some items from Nationalmuseum in Copenhagen + Sö 274 and Sö 352 in Stockholm - yes, those photos were from Ogneslav too. And in May 2006 he came back from a trip on the British Isles with a whole lot of new photos - thanks ! Check out the logotype on the last rune stone above - that's a sure sign that he has taken the picture. All in all it's more than 350 photos !

It all started as a photographic project, to document some historical monuments in the province of Västergötland in Sweden.... Among those monuments were some well preserved rune stones. I didn't bother about the fragments - if I'd take a photo, they had to be in good shape !

On a holiday-trip to Öland back in 1990, I met an old American man at a youth hostel, and we started to talk about things to see on Öland. He mentioned the Karlevi rune stone, and I told him about rune stones that I had seen in Västergötland. He told me about a rune stone in USA - the Kensington Rune Stone. That was an amazing story ! We exchanged addresses, and said goodbye. A month later I got a parcel in my mailbox. A book on KRS ! In return I sent the man some photos of rune stones, with a rough translation included. I got two more books, so I had to get out and find more rune stones for him, right ? We kept in contact for a year or two, and then one of us waited too long with his next letter, I guess ( - probably me ), and then the contact was broken.....

This had, however, broadened my historical interest. Suddenly I had a lot of photographic material, that I needed to use somehow. A book ? Yes ! No !!! Too much work.... research, etc.... That would kill the pleasure of it all. I decided to make an internet-site : Things to see along an old road ! But what about all the other interesting things that weren't along that road ? "I better create another site !" Runes 'n' ruins - a bit like "rock 'n' roll" ! That kept me occupied for a while....

.... but there would be more to come : Stone-struck - a step out of Västergötland and into the world ! OK- to a couple of other places, then. It started as a collection of megalithic monuments from Brittany in France, Orkney islands in Scotland + some other places. After a while it all got both deeper and wider. The last three years I've spent much time, adding rune stones to this site ( which started as a subsection to the Stone-struck site, but which has had more visitors than the main site ).

In 2005, I added rock carvings ( petroglyphs ), to the Stone-struck site - that site is resting during the winter, while the rock carvings are covered with snow.

What I wanted to say, is that this rune stone site has become the one that I give priority to, before the other ones. Instead of just taking photos of "beautiful" rune stones, as I did in the beginning, I shoot anything with a rune on it ; fragment of a stone, or even a bone with some marks on it - it has to be runes, though ! ;-)

2-3 times every year, I'll go for a 2-3 days rune stone-hunt, but in the meanwhile I'll be happy to receive a photo or two of a rune stone that I haven't published yet. Would you do that for me ?

 

 
Peo