Walking down memory lane: Rune stones as mnemonic agents in the landscapes of late Viking-Age Scandinavia

The archaeological approach adopted in this work wishes to explore the mnemonic agency of rune-stones through highlighting some of the myriad rhizomatic relations that were generated through the embodied processes of making, staging and encountering rune-stones in the landscape. It equally emphasises that memory work is practical, performative and therefore necessarily embodied in its constitution (e.g. Merleau-Ponty 1962; see also Mauss 1992 [1934]). This approach also takes inspiration from feminist theory, which aspires to avoid reducing ambiguity and complexity in interpretations, in this instance regarding how rune-stones were experienced and understood in the Late Viking Age.