Heavener Runestone State Park

Is there a runestone in Oklahoma? The answer to that would have to be, "Yes, but not just one." There are actually several runestones in Oklahoma, some of which are kept at the Heavener Runestone State Park at Heavener, Oklahoma. Some time ago I trekked to Poteau Mountain - if you find Heavener you'll find the mountain - to have a look at these famous artifacts.

This is a close up of the stone usually referred to as "the" Heavener Runestone. It's a slab about 12 feet high, 10 feet wide, and 16 inches thick with eight runic (Northern European origin) letters inscribed upon it, which I give below. The stone is on the top of Poteau Mountain and is the main attraction of a visitor's center which has sprung up around it. According to tradition, the slab was known to the Choctaw Indians in the 1830's. In fact it was formerly known as Indian Rock. Not a bad name, but odd considering that Indians didn't usually go around carving European runes into rocks.

The stone has now been enclosed within a small wooden building and has a glass cover in front of it. This caused the poor quality of my photo, but the runes are still visible. You may view the unedited picture here.

This is a rather clumsy rendering I made of the Heavener text. I couldn't find a suitable runic font on the internet, so I made my own by altering the Arial font with the Paint program.

The runic alphabet is often referred to as a "Futhark." As the word "alphabet" comes from alpha and beta, Futhark stands for the first few letters of runic writing or, if you will, the runic alphabet (F U Th A R K). So there you have it.

For a better and much more scholarly discussion that I could provide of what these runes might mean, see the resources at the bottom of this page. I don't mean to be shallow here, but this subject has literally consumed volumes.

The Poteau Runestone was found by two schoolboys in the late 1960's (1967). Its characters range from one and one-half inches to two inches high.

Recovered in 1954, it had been used as a stepping stone for at least 50 years.

Recovered in 1959.

• The Heavener Runestone
• In Plain Sight Gloria Farley's page; assume that all works by this author-researcher are recommended, though her research is not widely accepted. Unavailable 5/7/2009; broken by webmaster. The url was http://privatei.com/~bartjean/mainpage.htm
• The Oklahoma Runestones Unavailable 5/7/2009; broken by webmaster. The url was http://privatei.com/~bartjean/chap9.htm
• North American Rune Stones

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