Heavener Runestone
Heavener, Oklahoma
A sandstone slab, ten feet wide and twelve feet high, bears Runic alphabet inscriptions dating back thousands of years. It is believed to have been carved by the pre-Vikings who, as we all know, came to Oklahoma centuries before the time of Columbus.
A walking trail in the 55-acre Heavener Runestone State Park leads to the slab, which is so big that a glassed-in outdoor shelter had to be built around it. According to the folks in the nearby interpretive center, the inscription on the slab dates to AD 100-700, and tells the story of "Glome" who used the rock to lay claim to this part of the Sooner State.
The people in Heavener do not dismiss America's other runestones -- there are more than you might think -- knowing that they are all evidence that Columbus was a Euro-come-lately. "They've got their runestone, we've got ours," the interpretive center folks said about the runestone in Alexandria, Minnesota. "Ours is older."