The two Oklahoma runestones discovered at Heavener and Poteau, a few miles apart, have not yet been satisfactorily translated. Unlike hieroglyphics which a freshman archaeologist can decipher, the Viking text has the handicap of twelve different runic alphabets. Once the key alphabet is found, the translator has to wade through medieval language. Scandinavian forms, Germanic, and early and middle Anglo-Saxon grammar. Spoken and written runic languages were so different that literal translation is impossible.
Some runes run right to left like Hebrew and Arabic, though the majority read left to right.
Runestones are the keys to Vikings in America. These vessels were too narrow and had little freeboard. No ship could induce seasickness as expertly as these Viking warships. The Norse merchant ship, the knarr, had lines as sweet as the longship, but she was beamy with high freeboard. She was the most seaworthy craft ever built.