Halvdan (runemaster)

Halvdan, normalized from Old Norse Halfdan, was a runemaster in mid-11th century Södermanland, Sweden.

Most early medieval Scandinavians were probably literate in runes, and most people probably carved messages on pieces of bone and wood.

[1] However, it was difficult to make runestones, and in order to master it one also needed to be a stonemason.

This runestone style is characterized by slim and stylized animals that are interwoven into tight patterns, with the animal heads typically seen in profile with slender almond-shaped eyes and upwardly curled appendages on the noses and the necks.

[2] In most of his inscriptions, Halvdan used a punctuation mark to separate each word in the runic text.