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One of the most famous finds from the earliest historical period of the cityof Ribe (southern Jutland, Denmark) is the fragment of a human skull, with adrilled hole, that has a relatively long runic inscription incised on one surface.Scholars have discussed the reading, interpretation and dating of the runesever since the piece was excavated in 1973. In the present article, the findcircumstances and other archaeological background information is presented;they permit the time of loss or deposition of the runic object to be narroweddown with great probability to the years A.D. 725–50.

In this paper runestones are compared to early Christian grave monuments, the so-called Eskilstuna cists, in an area of Västergötland extending from Husaby to Sparlösa. In order to compare the carving techniques, runestones and grave monuments were analysed by 3D scanning and groove analysis employing a method developed at the Archaeological Research Laboratory at Stockholm University. The hypothesis is that carving technique as a part of material culture reflects the mobility patterns of rune carvers, their contacts and the relationship between individuals and groups. Results indicate that the carving of runestones was relatively uniform over the whole area investigated, whereas the technique of those who carved grave monuments clearly differs between the main sites Husaby, Häggesled and Kållands-Råda. This may suggest that runestone carvers had contacts with one another, while the carvers of the grave monuments kept to their own local site with a lesser degree of interaction among themselves. In a wider context, this change in mobility patterns may be a part of the general restructuring of eleventh century society resulting from Christianization.