Narragansett Runestone
| Narragansett Runestone | |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Region | Rhode Island |
| City/Village | Pojac Point, Narragansett Bay |
| Produced | unknown |
| Runemaster | unknown |
|
Text – Native |
|
| Other resources | |
| Runestones – Runic alphabet Runology – Runestone styles |
|
The Narragansett Runestone, also known as the Quidnessett Rock, is a 2.5 tonne slab of metasandstone inscribed with two rows of symbols, which some have indicated resemble ancient Runic characters.[1]
The stone was stolen in 2012. On April 26, 2013, the Rhode Island Attorney General announced that the rock was recovered after an individual came forward with information.[2] The rock was moved to the University of Rhode Island School of Oceanography for testing but this proved to be impossible.[3]
In January 2014, plans were announced to move the runestone to Goddard Memorial State Park in East Greenwich.[4]
In October 2015, the runestone was placed for long-term public viewing in Wickford, a village of North Kingstown.
Provenance
The Narragansett runestone was first reported to the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission (HPHC) in the 1980s.[1] As a result, the New England Antiquities Research Association (NEARA) ran several studies and published a number of papers in the 1980s and 1990s about the rock. According to NEARA, the stone was first discovered by a quahogger in December 1984 while digging in the mud flats.[4]
The HPHC was unable to find any information about the stone in any previous inventories of Narragansett Bay. They attributed the reason to the fact that as early as 1939 the runestone was located upland and may have been buried.[1] Recently, due to dramatic erosion of the shoreline at Pojac Point and the fact the stone was positioned 20 feet from the extreme low tide line mark, the inscriptions on the stone were only visible for a short period of time between the shifting tides.[1]
In 2014, Everett Brown of Providence reported that he and his brother Warren carved the runes on Quidnessett Rock in summer 1964. He said he had forgotten about the incident until the stone was removed and recovered in 2013.[5][6] This has been disputed by other local people who state they saw the stone before 1964 as well as challenging other elements of his statements.[7][8]
Media
The stone is referenced in episode 11 of season 1 of America Unearthed.[4]
Disappearance
In May 2013, the state Attorney General’s Environmental Unit and DEM’s Criminal Investigation Unit announced they had recovered the stone, after the state Coastal Resources Management Council reported it had been removed from the tidal waters off Pojac Point between July and August 2012.
Town historian and Independent columnist G. Timothy Cranston said a Pojac Point resident had it removed after they tired of having non-residents scouring the neighborhood and shoreline looking for the stone. He said that the resident – who was not named – was ordered by state officials to retrieve it after they sank it in deeper waters off the coast.[6]
See also
References
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