The Berezan Runestone is a runestone probably from the 11th century, located on the island of Berezan at the lower course of the Dnieper River, just before it flows into the Black Sea, in present-day Ukraine. It is the only known runestone in the region of the Kievan Rus.
The remaining part of the stone measures 48 cm in width, 47 cm in height, and 12 cm in thickness, and bears the inscription:
“Grani made this stone for his partner Karl”.
The inscription and the stone’s shape suggest that it likely belonged to Gotlandic merchants.
In 1905, the stone was discovered during an excavation of a burial mound by Ernst von Stern, a professor at the University of Odessa. The mound, dating back to the 6th or 5th century BC, contained the original burial and 48 later burials, some of which were in stone chests. Inside one of these chests, a body was found resting on a limestone stone, and the runic script was discovered on its backside.
