In spite of hard work and long days, the team did not achieve quite as much as it had hoped. This was partially due to the fact that the project was expanded with a sub-project that was originally intended only as a test case, but which turned into a time-consuming project in its own right. It also took us longer to prepare the outline of the Handbook than we had expected. Some authors wrote sections that were too detailed for a handbook, whereas others produced texts that did not plough deep enough. The extremes caused problems for the project, and especially for the leader who had to try to locate the ideal mid-point. Most of the writers were, however, able to adjust and assume a balanced position. Even though we were not able to finish the preliminary version of the Handbook before the termination of the project, we are still proud of and content with the sum of our achievements.

The major product of the CAS project, a preliminary version of the Handbook of Runology, now consists of approximately 400 pages and is to be made available digitally at the end of this year. About one-half of the book is more or less finalized. The rest is either written, but not edited, or exists in draft.

The corpus edition of runic inscriptions on the Isle of Man has progressed remarkably. Thanks to very hard work by Barnes, the missing introductory chapters have been written. Through Barnes’s computerisation, careful reading, and corrections, and Williams’s critical reading, comments, and suggestions, all the articles on individual inscriptions now exist in a third draft of high standard. However, Barnes, who unfortunately could not participate in the first excursion, needs to check the manuscript against the inscriptions themselves, and he and Knirk are planning a second field trip to accomplish this and tie up various loose ends. The edition should be ready for publication in 2015/2016.

The Kensington rune-stone in Minnesota (a forgery from the late 1800s) has been a topic of great interest for two of the core members. A database consisting of information from a laser scan of the surface of the stone performed in the U.S.A., can be employed to produce photographic representations of the inscription. The CAS project purchased the database and negotiated legal rights to make it publically available on the Internet at no cost. Such three-dimensional documentation has implications for the documentation and analysis of most runic inscriptions.

Two doctoral dissertations in preparation at Uppsala University will be partial by-products of the CAS project: Sofia Pereswetoff-Morath: “Runamuletter från vikingatid till medeltid”, and Alessandro Palumbo: “Studier i svenska medeltida runformer”.

The year at CAS was extremely important for this project. In spite of the fact that runologists were already in many respects a tight-knit group and had much interaction, such exchanges had occurred via the Internet or by way of personal meetings and international conferences. A “large” runological milieu consists of two scholars; thus assembling six or seven of them at the same time and in the same place represented runological heaven. The project would probably never have materialised had we not had the stay at CAS. All of us are engaged on other projects and would not have found time for this extra undertaking, even though all agreed that the project was absolutely essential in order to ensure the future of runology as a scholarly discipline.

The collaboration initiated at CAS will continue for at least eighteen months in order to give the Handbook its final form and finalise its publication, as well as to complete the corpus edition of the runic inscriptions on the Isle of Man. The close relationships established between the fellows will also ensure future co-operation on other projects.