Shawnee Runestone

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The Shawnee Runestone is a runestone claimed to have been found in Shawnee, Oklahoma, in central Oklahoma, one mile from the North Canadian River, which is a tributary of the Arkansas River. Its five runes, all from the 24-rune Elder Futhark, spell out "MEDOK." Medok is similar to Madoc, the name of a Welsh prince. Legend has it that he came to America in the year 1170 A.D., then returned to Wales for 10 shiploads of colonists whom he led up the Mississippi River. However, the Welsh did not use third century A.D. Norse runes and the name Medok is not Madoc. Alf Monge studied the inscription on the Shawnee Runestone and said it was another Norse cryptopuzzle, giving the date November 24, 1024 A.D. There are indications that it possibly marked a grave^{[citation needed]}.

The Shawnee Runestone was supposedly found in August of 1969 by Jim Estep, a young man of Shawnee as he was taking his 7-year-old brother-in-law, Mikel Lindsay, and another small boy, David Sersen, on a snake hunt. They were walking in the northeastern part of the city along a wooded path that followed a small creek, a tributary of the North Canadian River. There are very few stones exposed in this area and no ledges or outcrops. However, they did find an oval stone about 14 inches long in the weeds, buried about an inch in the soil. When they turned it over, instead of finding the hoped-for snake, they saw a neatly-cut inscription of five strange letters on the underside of the stone. The find was reported to Estep's mother-in-law, Vondell Lindsay, who asked him to retrieve the stone. The letters were filled with dried mud. Unfortunately, young Mikel used a frog-gig to clean some of it out, but he did very little damage.