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Denmark ’s illustrious Jelling Stone — which bears the earliest mention of the modern name of the country — is unveil novel clues about its creator , a millenary after it was carve . New enquiry propose the Harlan Fiske Stone , erected around A.D. 965 , also shows the Brobdingnagian power of aVikingqueen .
The Jelling Stone was commissioned by Danish king Harald Gormsson , better - known today by his nickname , Bluetooth , who successfully unified the nation and brought Christianity to the region .
A large boulder, known as the Jelling Stone, covered in runes. New 3D scans have revealed the identity of a powerful queen mentioned in these runic inscriptions.
Bluetooth set up a big carved stone in thetown of Jelling , grade it alongside an older stone and in between two immense burial mounds . The inscriptions on the stones are made in a runic alphabet , chisel into lines of horizontal or erect text . The older , little stone was set up by King Gorm , Harald ’s founder , in remembering of his wife , Queen Thyra , while Bluetooth set up the larger stone in memory of both Gorm and Thyra .
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Bluetooth ’s stone carries an dedication on one side trumpet his achievement as king and observe the retentivity of his female parent and sire . On the other side , the Jelling Stone includes the old Scandinavian depiction of the image of Christ .
Another image of the Jelling Stone. The stones were commissioned by Danish King Harald Bluetooth, who united the country and introduced Christianity.
The Jelling Stone has been study for one C , but for the new research , the squad used 3D scanning technology to chance upon the name of the specific person who carved its runes .
Lisbeth Imer , a runologist at the National Museum of Denmark who led the research , and her squad used 3D scans of the rock and others in the area to identify the angle of chisel rut that make the runes , as well as the aloofness between them . assume that skilled stonemasons typically used the same method of carving runic letter , Imer and her squad discover a " handwriting " key signature unique to the runic letter God Almighty . With this information , they could name the stone ’s carver : Ravnunge - Tue .
Ravnunge - Tue is known to have carved two stones that mention Thyra . One , find in Læborg , about 23 mile ( 37 klick ) sou'-west of Jelling , bears an inscription that suggest he made it in store of his queen , Thyra . The other , determine in Bække , about 19 miles ( 30 km ) southwest of Jelling , mentions that Ravnunge - Tue and two compatriot made Thyra ’s burial pitcher .
But it was not antecedently clear who carved the unsigned Jelling Stone and whether the Thyra mentioned on it was the same person as the Thyra remark on the other stones .
Using a new method acting of groove psychoanalysis of runestones , the team retrieve Ravnunge - Tue ’s " touch " sculpture flair was present on the Jelling Stone and on the Læborg Stone , avail to name the Jelling Stone ’s carver and loaning backup to the identification of Thyra on the two stones as one and the same : Harald Bluetooth ’s mother and the married woman of Gorm .
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Finding Thyra ’s name on four different runestones , though , suggests she was much more important than someone ’s wife and mother , as Bluetooth and Gorm are only note on two runestones each . While Gorm is often called Denmark ’s first king , Imer and her team conceive that Thyra likely came from an older , more muscular family in southerly Jutland , which conduct to raw questions about how Denmark was first take shape as a nation .
Further entropy on the squad ’s work is forthcoming in the diary Antiquity and forms the basis of a new Danish infotainment series calledThe Riddle of Thyra .
