Janet Bundy, age 14, of Camden, N.J., for her question:

WHAT IS THE KENSINGTON RUNE STONE?

A Swedish farmer named Olof Ohman found a stone on his farm near Kensington, Minn., in 1898. The stone.had an inscription on it in Scandinavian runic letters.

The inscription told of a party of Swedish and Norwegian Vikings who set out from their settlements in Vinland, or America, on an exploration journey westward. The inscription is dated 1362, or 130 years before Columbus arrived in America.

Some scholars have said that the stone is a forgery. Others have defended it as genuine. In any case, the Kensington rune stone is still a subject of controversy.

The stone is in the possession of the Alexandria, Minn., Chamber of Commerce. A replica of the stone, which measures 36 inches long, five and half inches thick and weighs 230 pounds, can be found in the National Museum in Washington, D.C.