There's more to the story of Minnesota's Kensington Rune Stone than the debate about its authenticity as a Norse artifact from 1362. Its inscription served as an alternative myth of origin speaking to issues of race, religion, & identity: upress.umn.edu/book-division/…@UMinnPress
An overview: the artifact was unearthed by a Swedish farmer from his field in 1898. Scholars declared the stone to be the product of a hoax, but many locals persisted in asserting it was inscribed by Norse explorers 140 years before the explorations of Columbus. But WHY? 2/
