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[amy3js]

I am going to make a disclaimer here and say I have done absolutely NO research on the Kensington stone.

So last night on the history channel was a special called "The Holy Grail in America".  It is about the Kensington stone which was found on a farm in Minnesota in 1898. It claims to be a marker of sorts from a Scandinavian team of explores. It would have functioned as a land claim, essentially claiming half of America as belonging to them (I can't remember specifically which country they were from. I remember they were possibly from an island called Gotland)

If this were true, and dispersed Israel (or part of it) had settled northern Europe, this would essentially mean that America was claimed as land belonging to an Israelite nation long before Columbus.

However, this runestone is generally considered to be a fake (although there is evidence to support it being authentic as well), and even if it was authentic, there is still a lot of extrapolating that goes into this theory.

Dh and I love history and things like this are fascinating to us. I thought this was extra interesting considering the conversations of late, but in no way do I claim to know that this is true. It's just interesting.

Does anyone else know anything about this? 

[andiclare]

^^No I don't know anything about it, but I'm looking at the History channel program schedule to see when it's coming on again. Sounds very interesting!

[AndysDad]

. . .  Kensington stone which was found on a farm in Minnesota in 1898. It claims to be a marker of sorts from a Scandinavian team of explores. It would have functioned as a land claim, essentially claiming half of America as belonging to them. . . .

If this were true, and dispersed Israel (or part of it) had settled northern Europe, this would essentially mean that America was claimed as land belonging to an Israelite nation long before Columbus.

However, this runestone is generally considered to be a fake (although there is evidence to support it being authentic as well), and even if it was authentic, there is still a lot of extrapolating that goes into this theory.

I will admit up-front that all I know about the Kensington Stone is what I've read online, although I made sure to lookup websites both pro and con.

First of all, there is way to much extrapolating to get the theory you mentioned, IMHO. Here is all that the Stone says (translated two different ways from Old Norse):

Translation #1:
"8 Goths and 22 Norwegians on exploration journey from Vinland over the west. We camp by 2 skerries one day-journey from this stone. We were and fished one day. After we came home, 10 men red with blood and tortured. Hail Virgin Mary, save from evil. Have 10 men by the sea to look after our ship, 14 day-journeys from this island year 1362."

Translation #2 (this one based on a fuller understanding of the runic alphabet):
8 Geats and 22 Norwegians on  acquisition expedition from Vinland far west. We had traps by 2 shelters one day's travel to the north from this stone. We were fishing one day. After we came home, found 10 men red with blood and dead. AVM Deliver from evils. have 10 men at the inland sea to look after our ship 14 days travel from this wealth/property. Year 1362

Here is the original:
8:göter:ok:22:norrmen:po:
??o:opþagelsefarþ:fro
vinlanþ:of:vest:vi:
haþe:läger:veþ:2:skylar:en:
þags:rise:norr:fro:þeno:sten:
vi:var:ok:fiske:en:þagh:äptir:
vi:kom:hem:fan:10:man:röþe:
af:bloþ:og:þeþ:AVM:
fräelse:af:illu: ”

The lateral (or side) text reads:

“ har:10:mans:we:hawet:at:se:
äptir:wore:skip:14:þagh:rise:
from:þeno:öh:ahr:1362:
 
More later, maybe.

[amy3js]

First of all, there is way to much extrapolating to get the theory you mentioned, IMHO.

I completely agree. I wish I had more time to study up on it. For now it is just an interesting theory that will likely never be proven/disproven.

[AndysDad]

Well, it looks like the Stone has been studied as thoroughly as it could be by now. There are only three possibilities, and I'll get to them momentarily.

These are the indisputable facts:

1) The stone was discovered in 1898

2) The stone was discovered under the roots of a poplar tree that may well have been growing since before white people settled the area. Testimony described the roots of the tree as having grown around the stone.

3) At the time it was discovered, the tree was found to have markings on it in some unknown (to the discoverers) alphabet.

4) Soon after it was discovered, the inscription was identified as runes of an intelligible Norse dialect and was translated into English.

5) At the time the stone's discovery was published, many people, including an expert who examined the inscription,  dismissed it as a hoax. It was a few years later that Norse historian Hjalmar Holand purchased the stone and began exhibiting it along with a historical explanation of its provenance.

6) The inscription is longer than any other Norse runic inscription found to date and contains detailed information that made it possible to identify with some likelihood who carved it, and when.

So, here are the only possibilities as I see it:

1) The stone was carved by an unknown forger skilled in medieval runic inscriptions and the history of Norse settlements in North America who then traveled to a very unlikely location (far to the west of any conjectured Viking settlement) and planted it in a remote swampy area where it was likely to have lain for decades or even centuries without being discovered.

2) The stone was carved by Viking explorers in 1362 AD at an unknown location closer to the Atlantic Ocean, and subsequently found by someone unaware of its historical value (or who had the same motivations as the alleged forger), who transported it to the Kensington area to be buried or abandoned as above.

3) The stone was carved in an act of doomed desperation by Viking explorers surrounded on a remote island in 1362 AD and left to gradually sink into the ground on the spot where it was found over 500 years later, the land having risen in the meantime so that the island  had become a knoll rising out of a swamp.

[Gabriel Anast]

While this stone is amazing... and (according to my reading of the wikipedia article and nothing else) seems real enough to me... I don't see that it has anything to do specifically with the House of Joseph study that I am doing. It does demonstrate, however, that this people group was amazingly enterprising.

--gabe

[amy3js]

There was a lot more said about this stone on the show, which made for a much more  interesting theory and show.    However, I have yet to find other proof for it (although I haven't spent much time on it) and I'm glad for your assessment Andy'sdad. 

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