Berezan' Runestone

The Berezan' Runestone (X UaFv1914;47) was discovered in 1905 by Ernst von Stern, professor at Odessa, on Berezan' Island (also known as the Island of St Aitherios) where the Dnieper River meets the Black Sea. It is 48 cm (19 in) wide, 47 cm (19 in) high and 12 cm (4.7 in) thick, and kept in the museum of Odessa. It was made by a Varangian (Viking) trader named Grani in memory of his business partner Karl. They were probably from Gotland.

Berezan' is located in the Black Sea not far from the mouth of the Dnieper River. Its bays gave shelter to the Scandinavian ships that passed it on the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks. Jansson writes on its importance:

The runestone was discovered during the excavations of a kurgan from the 6th century BC. After its construction, the kurgan had been used for 48 additional burials of different types and at various depths. None of the bodies appeared to have been incinerated; some had been carelessly buried without any grave goods, while others had received wooden coffins or had at least been put on planks before the inhumation, while some had been inserted into stone coffins made of flat slabs of stone. On June 9, 1905, von Stern's crew discovered a lidless stone coffin in the eastern part of the kurgan containing a skeleton whose skull was resting on the runestone. The runestone was discovered by von Stern just as a worker intended to throw it on a pile of stone. The runestone was probably not discovered in its original location, and it is likely that it was originally located at one of the minor barrows in the vicinity.

The inscription is completely preserved, which is shown by the fact that the first and last letters are marked as the end parts of the inscription. The engravings are c. 8 cm long and 0.75 cm deep.

Latin transliteration:

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