Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – The Svingerud grave field, located in Hole municipality, Buskerud County, about 40 kilometers northwest of Oslo, Norway, has emerged as a significant site for archaeological research. This interest is driven by the discovery of several sandstone fragments inscribed with runes. These findings are crucial as they shed light on the early application of runic writing on stone. The fragments display intriguing sequences of runes along with other mysterious markings.
Credit: Antiquity – doi:10.15184/aqy.2024.225
The archaeological context surrounding these discoveries provides excellent opportunities to date the rune stones using radiocarbon methods. Unearthed from separate graves and studied over three field seasons, researchers in the lab found that these pieces fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. By assembling them, they identified several runic inscriptions.
Some fragments contain multiple sequences of runes and ambiguous markings that various individuals may have engraved at different times. Researchers suggest these are likely parts of the world’s earliest known rune stone. They may have been intentionally separated to highlight diverse practical and ritual aspects linked to early Germanic rune stones.
Plan of the Svingerud site: A) all the structures at the site; B) the location in the modern landscape; C) the mounds during excavation (map by Charlotte Nueva Finnebråten, photographs by Museum of Cultural History). Credit: Antiquity – doi:10.15184/aqy.2024.225
Runes were used as letters for writing Germanic languages before adopting the Latin alphabet; their oldest forms were utilized until around AD 700. However, details regarding their origins and usage remain unclear.
“The development of runic writing and the practice of inscribing runes on stone are difficult to trace,” says Dr. Kristel Zilmer, professor in runology at the University of Oslo.
Scientists propose that the original large stone at the Svingerud grave was deliberately broken into pieces, dispersed, and integrated into later burials. It is possible that the stone was initially meant to mark a single grave but was fragmented to honor additional burials over time.
“Rune stones likely had both ceremonial and practical intentions,” states Dr. Zilmer. “The grave field and the original raised stone suggest a commemorative and dedicatory intent, while subsequent use in a separate burial illuminates later pragmatic and symbolic expressions.”
Runic markings on Hole 2, side A (photograph by George Alexis Pantos; drawing by Kristel Zilmer). Credit: Antiquity – doi:10.15184/aqy.2024.225
Significantly, Svingerud serves as a grave field where the cremated human remains and charcoal can be radiocarbon dated, providing a precise date range for the contexts in which the rune stone fragments were discovered. Radiocarbon dating has unveiled an intriguing finding: these contexts date from 50 BC to AD 275, making these rune stone fragments the oldest examples found so far.
This discovery prompts us to reconsider our understanding of the rune stones: could some of the unidentified symbols represent a transition between decorative script and early writing? Additionally, was the fragmentation and distribution of rune stones intentionally linking various graves across the grave field?
“This is a rare example of finding runic fragments in well-preserved, datable archaeological contexts. It is of great importance for discussions on early Scandinavian rune stones and it also serves as a reminder for archaeologists to thoroughly investigate stone fragments found in grave contexts and search for potential inscriptions.
We will see more research on this site and the rune stone fragments in the years to come,” Dr. Solheim concludes.
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“The discovery may also have consequences for scholarly debates on the age and origin of runes, and developments in early runic epigraphy,” the researchers conclude in their study.
The study was published in the journal Antiquity
Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Staff Writer
