World's Oldest Rune Stone Containing Mysterious Messages Was Intentionally Fragmented, Researchers Claim

Researchers regularly stumble upon things that shed light on the mastery of past societies. In 2021, archaeologists unearthed the world's oldest known rune stone, stated CNN. Recently a team of researchers announced some new insights about this artifact. These new findings have been published in Antiquity.

The new study claims that the rune stone is possibly part of a larger 2,000-year-old slab. The team is currently in the process of reassembling the slab, which they hope will provide clues regarding the maker of the rune, as well as the meaning of the inscription on it. The 2021 stone was found in an ancient grave site in eastern Norway known as the Svingerud grave field. The archaeologists immediately noted rune traces on the stone. Later excavations in the area led to the discovery of more sandstone fragments with similar inscriptions in other graves.

Researchers believe that these fragments appear to fit together, with certain inscriptions possibly continuing across pieces. This made the team conclude that all the pieces were once part of a single stone. The fragment features imply that the original stone could have been intentionally broken and later placed in the burial. The 2021 fragment, like others, was found alongside human remains, which allowed researchers to analyze their age. Radiocarbon dating indicated that the fragments date back to between 50 B.C. and A.D. 275.

Examinations made researchers think that the function of this ritual stone seems to have changed over time. "Due to the rarity of rune-stones found in clearly datable archaeological contexts, we have had little concrete evidence regarding the early use of runic writing on stone and the age of the earliest rune-stones," said study co-author Dr. Kristel Zilmer, professor of runology at the University of Oslo’s Museum of Cultural History. "The inscribed fragments … provide such a rare exception, and additionally, they feature a remarkable mixture of multiple inscriptions and other markings — unlike anything previously seen on rune-inscribed stones."

The study claims that initially the rune stone possibly acted as a decoration for graves, but later on, though they were placed as some sort of symbol by the community. "Rune-stones likely had both ceremonial and practical intentions," Zilmer said. "The grave field and the original (single) raised stone suggest a commemorative and dedicatory intent, while subsequent use in a separate burial illuminates later pragmatic and symbolic expressions." Researchers further claim that the past civilians inscribed multiple times on the stones. There were some engravings that have not yet been understood by epigraphers worldwide. Experts think that the unknown markings could be early variants of runic script.

In two stones, they found the term 'Idiberug,' which they believe could be inscribed. "The text begins with the word 'I', followed by the name of the inscriber, then a verb indicating the activity (‘wrote’) and finally the word ‘rune’, which refers to the inscription as a whole," Zilmer said. "The name of the rune-carver is challenging to detect due to faint, ambiguously shaped runes and weathered surface areas," Zilmer added. "We have proposed a few possible readings. The most intriguing feature is the ending with -u, which suggests that this could have been a woman’s name. If so, this would be the earliest known record of a female rune-inscriber."

All the pieces of this possible runic stone are yet to be discovered, which makes deciphering more tricky for experts. "The challenge lies in the fact that this is not a complete puzzle — we are missing significant portions, and there are evident gaps," Zilmer said. "However, we believe it should be possible to determine how many of the smaller fragments could be connected to the larger fragments or to each other." Researchers are on the lookout for more pieces to translate the writings.