The Upplandic Non-Lexical Rune Stones: Ciphers or Nonsense?

Abstract

The so-called non-lexical rune stones use ordinary runes but contain nothing but nonsensical “words”. It is not entirely uncommon for rune stones to contain hidden and enciphered messages, which is why this study investigates the possibility of the Upplandic non-lexical stones being ciphers. This is done using a graph clustering algorithm that sorts the stones into groups based on how similar their texts are. The algorithm labeled all non-lexical stones as outliers (belonging to no group), with the exception of U1126 and U1128 that form a group on their own. As such it is deemed unlikely that any of the nonlexical stones (perhaps excluding U1126 and U1128) are ciphers.