Researchers on the University of Oslo’s Museum of Cultural History discovered the stone whereas investigating a burial floor within the municipality of Hole in japanese Norway in fall 2021, in accordance with the museum.
The stone has been named “Svingerudsteinen,” or “the Svingerud Stone,” after the location the place it was discovered.
Burnt bones and charcoal from the cremation pit the place it was found revealed that the writing was carved into the reddish-brown sandstone boulder, measuring a couple of foot in peak and width, between 1 and 250 AD.
The runestone was present in a cremation pit in japanese Norway. Credit: Kjetil Nergaard/Nye Veier
“Me and my colleagues at the Museum of Cultural History are very excited about this sensational find that makes us rewrite some chapters in the history of runic writing,” runologist Kristel Zilmer, Professor of Written Culture and Iconography on the museum, informed Act Daily News through e mail on Wednesday.
Zilmer investigated and interpreted the inscriptions on the stone whereas the archeologists decided its age by radiocarbon relationship samples from the grave the place it was discovered.
Radiocarbon relationship revealed the stone dates to between 1 and 250 AD. Credit: Alexis Pantos/Museum of Cultural History/University of Oslo
“It provides first clear evidence of the occurrence of rune-stones in Scandinavia in the first centuries AD, thanks to the possibilities we have had in this case to carry out radiocarbon dating of the grave in which the stone lay,” she added.
Ancient language
Runes are the oldest identified type of writing in Scandinavia, and the alphabet was extensively used from the start of the Common Era (CE) and all through the Viking Age till the late Middle Ages, in accordance with the college.
Scandinavia has a number of thousand runestones from the Viking Age — between 793 and 1066 AD — however there’s much less proof of runes from earlier occasions.
Of the runestones present in Norway, solely about 30 are believed so far from sooner than round 550 AD.
Svingerudsteinen is the one stone discovered by archeologists that dates to earlier than 300 AD. It comprises the primary three letters of the runic alphabet — “f,” “u” and “th” — on considered one of its sides, in accordance with the museum.
The stone options “unexpected” inscriptions. Credit: Alexis Pantos/Museum of Cultural History/University of Oslo
“Runestones with runes from the older futhark (the runic alphabet) are very rarely found in dateable, archaeological contexts and we understood that this had the potential to give us new knowledge about runes,” Steinar Solheim, archaeologist and excavation supervisor on the Museum of Cultural History, informed Act Daily News Wednesday. He mentioned the invention was “something unique.”
“This means that the rune-stone tradition is older, maybe even by a few hundred years, than we have previously assumed. But this also makes us wonder what else we may not have known about regarding the use of runic writing in the early Iron Age Scandinavian society,” Zilmer mentioned.
Who is Idiberug?
The stone has a “very special appearance,” in accordance with Zilmer, that includes an “unexpected” combination of thinly incised, shallow runes, rune-like characters and different visible motifs. Some inscriptions are zigzag-shaped, whereas others type a grid sample.
Eight runes on the entrance face of the stone spell “idiberug” when transformed into Roman letters.
According to Zilmer, this might be the title of a girl referred to as “Idibera,” it might be referring to a kin named “Idiberung,” or it may say, “for Idibera.”
Eight runes on the entrance face of the stone spell “idiberug” — probably a girl’s title. Credit: Alexis Pantos/Museum of Cultural History/University of Oslo
Since the best way of writing inscriptions diversified rather a lot, and the language modified significantly over time, decoding the messages is a difficult process and there’s nonetheless plenty of analysis to be finished, the museum mentioned.
Zilmer mentioned they’re now working with a crew of students on a joint tutorial publication, to be launched this 12 months, during which they’ll current their essential findings.
The runestone shall be on show on the museum from January 21 to February 26.