A Swedish scholar who does not think the Heavener runestone was created by Vikings says the state should nonetheless be proud of being the runestone capitol of the nation.

Henrik Williams, a professor of Scandinavian languages at Uppsala University, discussed whether it is likely ancient seafarers made their way to Oklahoma centuries ago in a presentation last week at the University of Central Oklahoma.

Williams has studied runestones for more than 30 years throughout Europe and the United States. Runes are the letters of ancient alphabets used in northern Europe, first seen about 100 A.D.

“So why does a professor travel all the way from Sweden to Oklahoma? Well there’s a very simple reason, we have runic descriptions all over Sweden and you have them here, too,” Williams said. “It’s fascinating because Oklahoma happens to be the place in the United States with the greatest concentration of runestones, so you should be proud of that.”