The Braxton County Rune Stone, also known as the Wilson Stone and Braxton County Tablet, was found by Blaine Wilson on April 10, 1931, on Triplett Fork, eight miles west of Gassaway. It is a piece of micaceous sandstone, 4 1/8 inches long, 3 3/16 inches wide, 13/16 inch thick, with an inscription very similar to the Grave Creek Tablet found at Grave Creek Mound at Moundsville in the spring of 1838. The inscription consists of three lines dividing three groups of characters with a cross at the bottom. Many of the characters are similar to the Grave Creek characters and follow the same sequence.
The state purchased the tablet nine years after Wilson found it and sent it to Dr. Emerson F. Greenman, an archeologist at the University of Michigan, for analysis. Upon completion of his detailed analysis he concluded, ‘‘It has not been demonstrated that the Wilson tablet is a fraud, but the preponderant evidence points in that direction.’’ Today both the Grave Creek and Braxton County tablets are considered frauds by most professional archeologists. The Braxton tablet is owned by the West Virginia State Museum.
This Article was written by Robert F. Maslowski
Last Revised on October 13, 2023
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Sources
Graven Stone Key to Mound Builders. Charleston Daily Mail, April 21, 1940.
Stradonwold, Olaf. Notes on the Grave Creek and Braxton County Rune Stones. Upper Ohio Valley Pioneer. (March 1946).
Cite This Article
Maslowski, Robert F. "Braxton County Rune Stone." e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 13 October 2023. Web. 18 April 2024.
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