Sö 90 Runestone

When driving around lake Mälaren, visitors will come across several old Viking remains. These valuable pieces of history are interesting waypoints for tourists, however, this wasn’t always the case. Södermanland Runic inscription 90 (Sö 90) is a great example of this time.

The runestone is undated, but is believed to be around 1,000 years old. It stood in a field in Hammarby undisturbed for centuries. However, during the 1800s it was hindering the developing farms in the region from expanding.

The stone wasn’t viewed as important and was thus blown out of the ground using explosives. Pieces of the stone were left scattered about. Those pieces were fortunately left undisturbed and were discovered by future archaeologists. A team was successfully able to reassemble the historic stone during the late 1950s. 

Since that time, the stone has been moved about 350 feet (100 meters) to the north from its original position, and is on display near the local road. It has remained intact ever since.

An interesting quirk about the stone is the way it was restored, as large metal “stitches” can be seen on its backside. 

The stone itself reads: “Atuitr raised (this) stone after Æist, his father, a strong guy.” The term “strong guy” is relatively unique on runestones, only appearing on three others, all in the same region.