(RoyalPatriot.com )- The world’s oldest rune was believed to be discovered in Norway by archeologists last week. They announced that it is considered one of the earliest examples of written words in Scandinavia and dates between AD 1 and AD 250, according to The Daily Wire.
The discovery was reportedly made when archeologists at the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, excavated a grave field in Hole near Tyrifjorden, Eastern Norway. The writing on the runestone provides insights into runic writing during the early Iron Age.
The discovery was kept a secret to give researchers time to “analyze and date the runestone,” according to Oslo Professor Kristel Zilmer, noting that it was initially thought that the oldest stones in Norway and Sweden dated to the years 300s or 400s. She spent the last year researching the inscriptions on the stone but claims they do not make linguistic sense, according to the Associated Press.
The letters engraved into the “reddish-brown” sandstone block are speculated to possibly be the name of the woman buried there, called “Idibera.” But the name might also be a family name.
“Some lines form a grid pattern and there are small zigzag figures and other interesting features. Not all inscriptions have a linguistic meaning,” Zilmer said, noting that the inscriptions could be someone learning how to write.
Runes are letters created by Germanic peoples after being inspired by the classical alphabets, like the Roman alphabet. The first few centuries of the Common Era are called the Roman Iron Age and are reportedly marked by Scandinavians and Romans trading with one another.
Charcoal and cremated human bones dating to AD 25-250 were also found in the cremation pit with the runestones. The bones and charcoal, along with radiocarbon, reportedly helped date the inscriptions. The Museum of Cultural History says that the cremation grave pits were a “common funerary practice from the late Bronze Age to the Roman Iron Age.”
