This model opens on a possible carving of Sigurd: there are birds, a tree, and a quadruped with some load on its back - but no thumb-sucking or dragon’s heart. Thor Ewing makes a good case for the Sigurd theory https://www.hslc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/152-2-Ewing.pdf and any one in the local area at the time who could understand the neighbouring Halton carving could well have read it in the same way. Professor Howard Williams takes a different view to Thor Ewing and his talk ‘What We Don’t Know About The Heysham Hogback’, given as part of the 2017 Heysham Viking Festival, is at https://vimeo.com/225900707. The new online Corpus of Anglo Saxon Stone Sculpture entry is at https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/wist_ahrc_2019/fullrecord.cfm?casss_mon_id=2716
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