Runic inscription

aft ybi sonti sta(i)n sa--
ak lki kaRþi f…

The interpretation is highly
uncertain but it seems to mean:

After the son Ybi, the stone was placed
Line 2 ??? (probably a name of the creator)

History

The rune stone was found in 1917 north of the farm Stora Dalby in northern Adelsö. According to reports, it was found in a small gravel pit on the western edge of the ridge next to the road.

The stone was hidden in the gravel in an inclined position, probably fallen from the slope from above where a Viking Age burial ground is located. Where and how the stone was originally placed is difficult to know.

Already in 1917, the stone was transported to Adelsö church and sacristy, where it was later built into the wall to the left of runestone U1.

Fact:
Red sandstone: 0.93 x 0.42 cm

The surface is rough with difficult-to-interpret runic inscriptions in two lines.

The runes are finely carved and shallow and the words lack punctuation.

In January 2014 I visited the sacristy for photography.
With the help of side lights, new details could be discovered and even a missing rune, an A.
 

The runestone may be one of the few carved before the year 1000.

What indicates that the runestone could be older is partly the form of the runes, which has similarities with the fragments at Birka and that it was found on, or in one of the viking graves that can be dated back to the 8th-9th century.

One problem with that dating is the 4th rune which looks like a dotted U (Y). Dotted U only appears at the end of the 11th century. Is it really a dotted U or is the dot in the rune natural? See close-up picture further down the page.

Pictures

On the depicted runestone in my Runestone park, the runes have been updated after being examined with sidelight. In addition to the A-rune towards the end of the first row, there is more on several of the runes to paint in.
 

Dotted or a natural pit?

 

(Do you see the A rune?)

Links

Upplands Runinskrifter > page 10
(Swedish).

Runor > - Riksantikvarieämbetet
Map and runic inscription.

Google map > Dalby and the find site.

Google map > Find Adelsö church.

Contact: kalle@runristare.se
If you want to be of help or have a question.
 

Runestone Park

We start from the north and go clockwise

U 11 - Adelsö, Hovgården
The King's Runestone in Hovgården, Adelsö

U 3 - Hovgården, Alsnöhus
Found during an excavation in 1916

U 1 - Adelsö church
Former threshold stone to the sacristy. Now built into the wall in the sacristy.

U 2 - Adelsö church
Destroyed by fire around 1660. Former threshold stone to the church.

U 10 - Dalby Adelsö
Found in 1920 at Stora Dalby, northern Adelsö. Now built into the wall of the sacristy, Adelsö church.

U 6 - Björkö village on Birka
Several fragments as a puzzle. Now in the museum at Birka.

U 5b - Birka 2015 (New find 2015)
2024.03.10 Not yet documented or published.

Sö 141b - Aspa bridge (Sö Fv1948;289)
New find in 1937 with the name Svitjod (Sweden).

Sö 179 - The Gripsholm runestone 
Mariefred, the most famous of the Ingvars runestones.

U 887 - Skillsta runestone
One of the world's most beautiful runestones.

Vs 29 - Sala parish church
The runecarver Livsten's masterpiece.

U 1125 - The old man in Krogsta
1500 year old rune stone carved with the older runes, the Old Norse runes.