MEDIEVAL SCANDINAVIAN "STONEHOLES" IN AMERICA'S UPPER MIDWEST

The following comprises the "who, what, when, where, and why" of medieval Norse stoneholes in America.

It appears fairly obvious that back in the 14th century and likely much earlier, exploring Scandinavians hand-chiseled stoneholes into dozens of rocks within America’s Upper Midwest.  Through extensive personal research and making multiple trips out in the field, I have come to the conclusion that this carving of stoneholes into rocks was done primarily to mark waterways and to take up land.  However, it appears that some of these strange stoneholes were made for other reasons, too--reasons I plan to explore here with you.

Examples of these quarter-sized, slightly triangular-shaped holes in rocks can be traced back to medieval Scandinavian countries such as Iceland, where they were chiseled several inches deep and used for mooring ships and securing land boundaries.  These stoneholes can be found in Scotland as well.  A recognizably similar plan for surveying and claiming land deep in America is necessary for understanding how stoneholes’ presence in the Minnesota/Dakota region perfectly coincides with the general era of the Kensington Runestone, a stone document found in Minnesota in 1898, self-dated to 1362.

My own burgeoning belief in the authenticity of the KRS originally had to do with my curiosity over these many mysterious stoneholes hand-chiseled into rocks.  There is no doubt that these aged-appearing stoneholes were hand chiseled, not made by machine, and although Native Americans had access to copper, copper could not carve stoneholes.  Iron would be required, and the natives didn’t have iron.  The authentically medieval stoneholes are slightly triangular because it is, generally speaking, not possible to make a perfectly round stonehole with a hand chisel.  Later modern drilling could make perfectly round holes, and this is one way of distinguishing one from the other.

I quickly discovered that in the past, the overly-simplistic academic point of view was to dismiss the many stoneholes as “leftovers” from pioneer Scandinavian farmers forgetting to blast the rocks… after laboriously chiseling out the holes.  Minnesotan Tom Trow fomented this notion in an article he wrote many years ago, and he has effectively muddied the scientific conversation about Scandinavian-made stoneholes in this region by proclaiming them to be leftovers from immigrant blasting. As far as I know, he has never backed away from this position. In this vein, “fringe history debunker” and blog host Jason Colavito picked up on Trow’s disinformation about these stoneholes and further nourished this myth of “Scandinavian forgetfulness” forward to current times.

But thanks to the work of many “stonehole enthusiasts” over the years, beginning with early KRS advocate Hjalmar R. Holand, much is known about them today. Stoneholes are, I believe, finally being recognized as the very glue holding medieval Norse history together up here in this region.  Unfortunately, I have seen that the first thing “debunkers” of the KRS want to do is to summarily dismiss these dozens of authentic medieval stoneholes, even though the KRS’s discovery site (Runestone Hill) is literally surrounded by a dozen or so of these simple but enigmatic Norse evidences.

I see three distinct groupings of evidences related to the discovery of the KRS (by Minnesota farmer Olof Ohman): metal weapons, petroglyphs, and stoneholes. Obviously, all these evidences can and should be further studied, just as the related geology of the stone and the runic language (and the message itself) inscribed on the stone document should continue to be studied. Answers can continue to come in from all these areas, with truth being the final goal—whatever it points to.

I don’t mind being known as a “stonehole nut.”  Stoneholes made good signposts along the waterways and were useful in helping to identify desirable land areas for possible future development.  The first thing serious researchers into the KRS should do is recognize that the dozens of medieval stoneholes up in this region are real—not leftovers from Scandinavian immigrant farmers forgetting to blast, en masse.

I, along with thousands of others, believe that the medieval Norse history surrounding us up here is valid, and I have learned through extensive research that Norse explorers--even before the time of the KRS--did in fact find an “ocean-to-ocean waterway convergence” near the Minnesota/Dakota border...and that they acted upon this discovery of dwindling waterways converging by chiseling many stoneholes in an attempt to claim the much valued land near this area of convergence.

I would also like to point out that many early scholars and researchers found the KRS to be genuine.  In fact, many dignified scholars have believed it to be authentic, from the time it was first discovered, right up until now.  So in my opinion, it looks like medieval Scandinavian stoneholes—and the notion of a genuine medieval Kensington Runestone up here in far-inland America—are not silly ideas at all. Medieval stoneholes appear to be reflecting truthful and insightful American history…albeit, very esoteric history.

I will now offer several different purposes for stoneholes being made in rocks, both in medieval times and in more modern times, including in the late 1800s.  In this regard, I have included in this essay photos of both medieval and modern stoneholes.  Do you see the difference?

Medieval stoneholes were used to moor ships along rocky Scandinavian coasts, but positively not here in America's forested Upper Midwest.  As already mentioned, they were also used for staking out boundaries for land-claims, both in Scandinavia and here in the Upper Midwest.  I believe medieval stoneholes were occasionally used for construction, such as with the rare horizontal stoneholes used in the Sauk Lake Altar Rock, likely for placement of an altar table.  I tend to also believe that medieval stoneholes were used in a playful "code pattern" here in Minnesota, possibly to conceal something buried, maybe in association with claiming land.

Compared to medieval stoneholes, 19th century stoneholes do not appear very aged.  Stoneholes were used during "settlement days" for breaking up rocks for foundations and buildings, and they were commonly used for breaking up and moving rocks during quarrying work; these holes were usually machine-made and precisely round.  I discovered that late-1800's stoneholes were likely used in rocks in Minnesota to secure surveyors' tents against stiff ridge winds; these stoneholes were typically very large, sometimes star-shaped, and they were undoubtedly machine-made.