no runes

Livsten is the rune-master who made this rune stone, but why didn't he carve runes on it ? Did he die before he finished it, or did he prepare everything in advance, so that the buyer could just say "I want that stone, and I want the runes to say....." ? Or didn't he find a buyer that wanted the oldfashioned snake/beast-design, but a big cross all over it, now that christianity had arrived ?