The Saltvik Runestone – Serpent of the Norse Sea
The Saltvik runestone is a second significant Viking-age monument on Åland, located in the Saltvik parish north of Mariehamn. Like the Jomala stone, it is carved with runic inscriptions in the Younger Futhark, its serpentine bands curling like waves around the ancient alphabet. The stone marks the connection between Åland's Viking-era settlers and the wider Norse world, commemorating voyages, kinship, and courage. In local folk belief, runestones were not mere memorials but living objects with spiritual power. Some Åland traditions held that runestones could speak at midnight, or that they pro