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The discovery of a remarkable artifact from centuries ago among tens of thousands of medieval objects found in Sweden has thrilled archaeologists.Nearly 30,000 objects were discovered during the two-year excavation of medieval Kalmar, according to the Archaeologists, which is part of the government's National Historical Museums. Among the unique finds was a gold ring in almost new condition.Carved with the figure of Christ, the ring dates to the beginning of the 15th Century, according to the agency. Based on its size, researchers said it's possible that a woman may have worn the ring. Other rings like it have been discovered...

An engraving on an almost 2,000-year-old knife believed to be the oldest runes ever found in Denmark has been discovered by archaeologists.The runic inscription – the alphabet of Denmark's earliest written language – was etched into an 8cm iron knife found in a grave below an urn near the city of Odense on the island of Funen. The five characters, each about 0.5cm tall, followed by three grooves, spell out hirila, which means "little sword" in Old Norse.Along with an inscribed bone comb found nearby in 1865, they are the oldest runes ever found in Denmark. Jakob Bonde, the city's...

An old sewer pipe needed repair in Trondheim in mid-Norway last year. A last-minute dig to save possible archaeological objects yielded a surprising and rare result: a gaming piece with runes... The area that was excavated was a mere four metres long, but it turned out to be very deep.At 3,8 metres under today's surface, the archaeologists found birch bark dated to around 1000-1150 AD. Slightly higher up they found a layer of coal dated to around 1030-1180 AD.The gaming piece in soapstone was found between these two layers...The find is unusual for Trondheim, where only two items with runic...

A significant new find of golden artifacts, many of them with runes in the Elder Futhark, has been uncovered in Denmark.Jackson Crawford, Ph.D.: Sharing real expertise in Norse language and myth with people hungry to learn, free of both ivory tower elitism and the agendas of self-appointed gurus.Major New Runes Find in Denmark | Jackson Crawford | September 15, 2021

Researchers have discovered that an ancient gold disc found in southern Denmark includes the earliest written reference to the Norse god Odin, revealing that he was worshiped up to 150 years earlier than previously thought, according to a report. The piece of jewelry — which dates to the 400s AD — was uncovered in Vindelev in central Denmark in 2020 amidst a treasure trove that included Roman coins. For years it was publicly displayed at a museum near the site before academics had the opportunity to study it, according to NBC News. A runic inscription with a reference to Odin,...

A controversial Minnesota artifact is making a name for itself across the country in its next biggest publicity move. The Kensington Runestone, which was unearthed in Minnesota but has been long disputed as a hoax, will now be featured on 2,300 20-foot moving trucks across the country. U-Haul unveiled the image Saturday morning at the Alexandria museum that houses the stone during the city's "Awake the Lakes" celebration. About 1,000 people celebrated the announcement at the Runestone Museum with T-shirts and a truck depicting the stone behind a large Vikings ship -- the fourth image representing Minnesota on the company's...

In the Middle Ages, the Roman alphabet and runes lived side by side. A new doctoral thesis challenges the notion that runes represent more of an oral and less of a learned form of written language....Johan Bollaert, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies... has investigated written language used in public inscriptions in Norway from the 1100s to the 1500s. Last autumn, he defended his doctoral thesis "Visuality and Literacy in the Medieval Epigraphy of Norway."The assumption that runes represent a more oral tradition is based on the idea that runic inscriptions are contextually bound and are...

Archaeologists from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) have uncovered two objects in Oslo inscribed with Norse runic text.Excavations were being conducted in Oslo’s Medieval Park ‘Middelalderparken’ in what was once the southern part of the medieval city of Oslo. The park contains the ruins of St. Clement’s Church, St. Mary’s Church, and the former Oslo Kongsgård estate royal estate.Researchers discovered a bone inscribed in Norse and a piece of wood with inscriptions on three sides in both Norse and Latin.Professor Kristel Zilmer from the University of Oslo, who specialises in writing culture (runology) and iconography has studied...

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Archeologists have already established that Viking explorers beat Christopher Columbus to America by about 500 years, but experts in Sweden now hope to determine whether another group of Scandinavians landed in the New World in 1362, 130 years before Columbus. A 90-kilo (200-pound) rune stone, a block of stone featuring symbolic engravings common during the Viking era, has been sent from the United States to Sweden's Museum of National Antiquities to establish whether it really dates from 1362, as its markings claim, or is just a hoax. If confirmed as an authentic relic, the so-called Kensington stone...

Intrigue over how German-made 12th century blade, adorned in Sweden, reached Siberia... An exciting new theory has now emerged that it could have belonged to Tsar Ivan the Terrible, and came from the royal armoury as a gift at the time of the conquest of Siberia. The hypothesis, twinning an infamous Russian ruler and a revered battle hero, could turn it into one of the most interesting archaeological finds in Siberian history, though for now much remains uncertain. What Siberian experts are sure about is that the beautifully engraved weapon was originally made in central Europe, and most likely in...

On this stick from the 1200s found in Bergen, two men named Sigurd and Lavran have written their names both in code and with regular runes. This helped runologist Jonas Nordby to solve the Jötunvillur code. For the first time, the Jötunvillur runic code is cracked. It can help to solve the mystery of the Vikings’ secret codes. Why did the Vikings use codes when they wrote runes? Was it a secret message or other reasons that they encrypted runic texts? This, we still know little about. But runologist Jonas Nordby think he may be one step closer to the...

Archaeologists have found the oldest engravings of letters ever to be discovered in central Germany, officials from the area announced on Thursday. The ancient letters, called runes, were scratched onto a 12.5 centimetre-long comb by Germanic settlers in the second century, scientists working on the site in Saxony-Anhalt believe. The letters spell out "Kama", meaning comb, the president of the state Heritage and Archaeology Management Office, Sven Ostritz, said on Thursday. It is the oldest ever example of runic writing to be found in that part of the country, he added. Germanic languages used the runic alphabet to write before...

The guide's voice began to conjure other shadows from the past. The neolithic people crept away as she switched on her torch and began to tell us about the runic writing on the walls, now known to have been written by Norse inhabitants of Orkney some time in the 12th century. The tension dissolved and laughter broke out as she translated: "Ingibjorg the fair widow; many a woman has had to lower herself to come in here, despite her airs and graces." "I bedded Thorni. By Helgi." And then some boasting about how well-travelled these Norsemen were: "These runes were...

An archaeologist says a rock used to mark a parking lot at a church in Sweden is actually a 1,000-year-old runestone. Stockholm County Museum runic expert Lars Andersson said a rock used to help mark the lot's boundaries is thought to date back to the Viking Age in Sweden, The Local said Friday. Andersson said in a museum statement the discovery of runic inscriptions on the rock thanks to rainy weather was akin to a "religious experience." "To read something that nobody else has read for 1,000 years is almost a religious experience," he said. The rock was found last...

I keep seeing ’ in post after post. What, did the ghosts of ancient Phonecians take over FR?Or are these stinkin' Assyrians?

Possible third Jellinge stone found By The Copenhagen Post Archaeologists believe they have found a new Viking-era stone engraved with ancient Danish Rune writing Archaeologists from Vejle Museum think they may have found a third 'Jellinge stone' - a large rock with carved runes and considered the first examples of written language in Denmark. The researchers have found seven stones in all, which they believe date from the 10th century. Jellinge stones tell of the founding of Denmark and of Christianity's arrival in the country. Even if the stones do not yield a true Jellinge stone, the find is still...