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New research finds that the world’s oldest Rune Stone is a landmark discovery revealed in 2023, just a larger, nearly 2,000-year-old tablet. Now, Norwegian scientists are working to reassemble ancient puzzles, a process that begins to shed light on who carved mysterious runes and what the words mean.
According to the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo, runes were the basis of the first Germanic work in centuries BC and were used in Scandinavia until the late Middle Ages. According to the museum, it is believed that the Germans drew inspiration from Roman letters to create characters, but the exact origin of the runes and how they were used remained blurred.
Many of the stones carved by runes found on Scandinavia have fascinating information, such as warnings about a powerful Viking queen or cold climate change based on past events. But many of these stones began at the age of the Vikings, about 800-1050 AD, with few examples of early runes.
When initially investigating an ancient tomb site in eastern Norway, archaeologists who initially excavated the oldest runes stone found large chunks covered with traces of runes. But as the work on the site continued, researchers found additional sandstone fragments in other nearby graves, some with similar rune inscriptions.
Broken pieces seem to fit well, with some of the rune scripts moving from one stone to another, and scientists realize that the pieces are all part of a stone. The research team published a new discovery in the February 3 issue of the journal Ancient.
It seems that the stone was intentionally fragmented according to the way it was broken, and the individual pieces were placed in different burials that occurred later. Over time, runestones are used as memorials or mark events. The latest discovery suggests that the use of this particular rune ritual has changed over time.
Stone fragments, including the initial 2021 discovery, were eventually buried with cremated human remains, which allowed researchers to confirm that runestone fragments are the oldest record ever. The radiocarbon years suggest that these fragments date back to between 50 BC and AD 275.
“Because rune stones found in clear archaeological contexts are rare, we have little concrete evidence of the early use of runes on stones and the earliest rune stone eras,” said study co-author Dr. Kristel Zilmer. Professor of Operations at the History Museum, in an email. “The inscribed fragments… provide such a rare exception, and in addition, they have a significant mixture of multiple inscriptions and other marks, unlike anything seen before on the stones engraved on runes.”
But these fragments also form new mysteries, including riddles contained in mysterious markers that have proven difficult to translate, and surprising clues about the sculptor’s own identity. These findings may help researchers better understand how runestones are reused over time.
Decode the runes
Archaeologists have also discovered rune inscriptions on various objects, including bones and iron knives, in addition to rune stones for various purposes. Anyway, it is difficult to translate runes because the Germanic languages they represent vary over time.
“The runes may have preexisting ritual and practical intentions,” Zilmer said. “The grave and the original (single) raised stones present a monumental and dedicated intention, and then the pragmatic and pragmatic in the separate burials are used in the individual burials. Symbol expressions.”
The team initially began investigating the Svingerud Grave area in Norway’s cave municipalities (25 miles or 40 kilometers, northwest of Oslo), as part of the “rescue excavation.” Dr. Steinar Solheim, associate professor of archaeology at the University of Oslo Museum of Cultural History, said a new highway and railway said.
Zilmer said.
Unknown marks may represent early variants of the rune, but it is difficult for researchers to tell when different inscriptions were made.
A sequence on Svingerud stone, now known as Cave 2 stone, especially stands out: the word or name of Idiberug. Researchers are unable to trace the exact meaning, so they think it is a person’s name, perhaps a woman’s name.
The clearest inscription is on 3 holes and 3 stones, and it seems to be the signature of the rune master.
“The text starts with the word ‘i’, then the name of inscriber, then a verb that indicates activity (‘writing’), and finally the word ‘rune’, which is an inscription on the whole,” Zilmer said. .
“The rune knife’s name is challenged due to the slight, ambiguous runes and weathered surface area,” Zilmer added. “We proposed some possible readings. The most interesting feature is to end with -u, which suggests that this is possible It’s the name of a woman. If so, it would be the earliest record of female rune symptoms.”
Based on the researchers’ analysis, the runes of the Cave 3 stone show that Inscriber may be a female. -George Alexis Pantos/Kristel Zilmer
In rune scripts, the ending -u is feminine. The authors hesitate to associate potential female Inscriber with female names of Idiberug on the hole 2 stone, at this time their study.
More work in more of the more other small pieces the team discovered in 2023 is still in progress, and researchers are still trying to determine the best way to put them together.
“The challenge is the fact that this is not a totally difficult problem – we lack important parts and there are obvious gaps,” Zilmer said. “However, we think it should be possible to determine how many smaller pieces can be connected to larger pieces or to one another,” he said. .”
Dr. Lisbeth Imer, curator and senior researcher at the National Museum of Denmark, believes that the stones will make researchers question their understanding of runestones, which are often monuments to commemorate people’s names and prevent them from They disappear with time. Imer does not participate in the new research, but specializes in the study of runes.
“But Svingerud Stone challenged this view, because it was carved by runes, then destroyed, and then engraved with new inscriptions, etc. “So maybe we should not think of it as a rune stone, but rather as something completely different. There are still mysteries to solve here.”
Uncover the ancient stones
Three graves were famous from the Svingerud site in previous studies, but archaeologists discovered the cremation of the fourth mound and two flat graves during the new excavation.
The team first excavated a crematorium or simple tombs with little or no visible marks above the ground, from the late Bronze Age (1750-1750-500 BCE) to the Iron Age of Romans (AD 1-400) common. The crew found cremated bones of adults, charcoal and other cemeteries, as well as a red-brown slab with runes, all hidden under a young grave.
The Hole 2 stone is the first rune-covered fragment unearthed from the site in 2021. The inscription includes a word that might be a female name, the researchers said. -George Alexis Pantos/Kristel Zilmer
The team also found fragments of pottery, brooch, belt, needle and bone comb, and starting in 2022, they continued to find fragments of sandstone with inscription marks. A named Hole 3, called Hole 3, has recognizable runes and lines that cross it. The runes provide the beginning and end of the inscription on two larger pieces found nearby.
The largest fragment found by the team was found to be placed vertically in the grave, showing no signs of runes, which led the researchers to believe that this was once the foundation of an upright stone.
When studying holes 2 and 3 in March 2023, Zilmer said, “it was soon obvious to put them together,” indicating that the stone was originally intended to mark a grave in a grave in honor of the later funeral. The study says individual graves may also be connected in some way and are not yet clear.
Imer believes that the stones are a very interesting discovery because they are located in a grave and have the opportunity to have radiocarbon dates.
In a January 2011 study, Imer suggested that the earliest runestones might have begun from the Roman period between 160 and 375 AD “due to stylistic evidence on runes and linguistic shapes.” , and the earliest runes constitute the earliest runes. In Norway,” she said.
“I’m very happy to see Norwegian scholars are now able to confirm the chronology,” Immer said. “About svingerudite’s carbon 14 dated between 50 and 275 BC, which covers quite a wide range of time, but it’s with us The earliest inscriptions known from other types of materials and other materials are very consistent. Objects: brooches, weapons and other personal equipment.”
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