King Harald´s ”mishandled” Jelling Stone

Abstract

King Harald's "Mishandled" Jelling Stone

In this article the authors reply to Erik Moltke's criticism (Kuml 1979) of their views on the artistic disposition of the surface, the cutting technique used and damage to the Greater Jelling Stone (Kuml 1977).

After a re-examination of the stone, the cleavage along the left edge of side B -the lion side- is considered to have followed a cut line and occurred during work on the stone. The major damage at the corner between side A and B -both the desquamation and the more radical damage- is thought to be the effect of fire, presumably in connection with one of the church fires, as also suggested by Knud Krogh. Unlike Moltke, we have observed traces of a chisel used in rune-cutting (fig. 1).

With respect to the composition, the lower line on sides C and D is regarded as an unused writing field. If Moltke's view that it served as a level during the erection of the stone were accepted, the Christ viewed frontally would be 10-12° out of true.

Finally the new observation has been made on Gorm's stone, the Lesser Jelling Stone, that the spiral on the right side must be seen as the eyes of a serpent's head which also has a characteristic beak-like snout.

A monumental mason who participated in the examination of the stone had the following comments to make.

He supposed that the work of cutting must have taken about one year. Before being cut, the ornament and runes were drawn directly on the stone as a basis for marking out and cutting. The runes and parts of the ornament seemed to him to have been made with a hammer and chisel, while other parts of the ornament and the background could have been made with a pick hammer or pick and hammer. Runes and lines on Gorm's stone he was sure had been made with pick or pick hammer, while a greater selection of tools had been used on Harald's stone.

Experiments making lines in granite with chisel and pick respectively revealed that only the chisel left marks as in fig. 1.

Erling Johansen & Aslak Liestøl

Oversættelse: Peter Crabb