Södermanland Runic Inscription 245

Södermanland Runic Inscription 245 or Sö 245 is the Rundata catalog number for a Viking Age runestone fragment that is located in Tungelsta, which is about two kilometers west of Västerhaninge, Stockholm County, Sweden, which was in the historic province of Södermanland.

The inscription on the fragment Sö 245, which is about 0.6 meters in height in the upright position, consists of runic text within a band and a depiction of a bird standing on what appears to be a cross.

[1] Placed on a cross, the cock would be interpreted as a Christian symbol meaning rebirth and vigilance, similar to weathercocks that are on top of churches today.

When Sö 245 was surveyed in 1910 it was suggested that other fragments of the runestone might be located in the walls of barns in local farms or in a nearby pile of rocks, but to date no other fragments of the Sö 245 runestone have been clearly identified.

Although there are runes visible within the runic band on the Sö 245 fragment that have been transliterated, an interpretation of the damaged text into Old Norse is not considered possible.