and snake on the reverse, are more floridly treated than that on the Vang stone; all have
a lip lappet and the snakes have pigtails. Each has a pear-shaped eye with the
point towards the snout (a diagnostic feature of the Ringerike style). In two corners are
acanthus-bud motifs of a type often encountered in this style (Wilson 1995 : fig. 137 ).
The borders are filled with various plant-scroll motifs. The scrolls have shell spirals and
elongated tendrils of a form which was to develop as the scrolls became more attenuated.
The lion and snake motif on one face of the vane clearly has a common origin with the
similar motif on the Jelling stone (Figure 48. 4 ). The pattern of the Söderala vane
(Wilson 1995 : fig. 139 ), which is executed in openwork, has the more restless, filament-
like characteristics of the succeeding Urnes style, but the substantial body of the main
animal and its axial form place it firmly in the Ringerike style. Another animal (a biped)
bites the main animal and foreshadows the combat motif of the succeeding Urnes style.
Although stones with runic inscriptions first appear in Sweden in the early Viking
Age, it is the Ringerike style which gave full rein to their ornamental embellishment
from the late tenth century onwards. They are most plentiful in south and middle
Sweden and on Gotland, but occur in some numbers in present-day Denmark and
occasionally, although in a rather different form, in Norway. Proclaiming public or
private works, the creation of a bridge or causeway, a place of assembly, or the record of
the ownership of property, or recording a good deed, the stones are often set up in
prominent places to stress a message conveyed in the inscription. Some record a death –
often far from home of warriors or merchants in the settlements abroad, or in the lands
where Scandinavian merchants traded or soldiers fought. Few stones are specifically
pagan (Sawyer 1991 : 111 ) and, where they express religious sentiments or portray
symbolism, it is usually Christian (even using apparently pagan scenes in a Christian
context). They form the first consistent evidence for the conversion.
The carving on the great rock of Ramsundsberget in Jäder, near Eskilstuna,
Södermanland (Wilson 1995 : figs. 151 and 152 ), is one of the most remarkable monu-
ments of the Viking Age in Sweden. Skilfully carved, it tells a coherent and recognisable
story, part of the Eddic legend of Sigurðr, slayer of Fafnir – one of the most popular
stories of the period from the tenth to the thirteenth century, and one which occurs
throughout Scandinavia, which is represented as far away as in Scandinavian Russia and
the Isle of Man. The main scene at Ramsundsberget is framed by three snakes, the heads
and tails of which produce typical Ringerike tendrils; the lowermost snake containing a
runic inscription which was carved by the order of a woman. Outside the frame (which is
some 4. 7 m long) is the figure of Sigurðr with his sword stuck through the soft under-
belly of the lowermost snake. Within the field defined by the snakes lies, to the left, the
body of a decapitated Regin (the treacherous forger of Sigurðr’s sword), together with the
tools of his smithy – bellows, hammer, anvil tongues, and so on. Sigurðr again appears in
the centre of the picture with his finger in his mouth. (This refers to the story that,
having slain the dragon, Sigurðr cut out its heart and roasted it over a fire; burning
himself on the heart, he put his finger in his mouth to cool it down and thus tasted
some of the dragon’s blood – an accident which enabled him to understand the lan-
guage of the birds, who warn him of the treachery of Regin, whom he then kills.) The
birds are seen in the tree to which is tethered Sigurðr’s horse Grani with the treasure
which Sigurðr had taken from Fafnir on his back. The figures are cleanly cut, with firm
outline, and Sigurðr is portrayed putting obvious effort into his task of killing the
dragon. A clumsier and smaller ( 250 cm long) version of the same composition is to be
–– David M. Wilson––