18 September 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

New rune discovery in Oslo

For the third time in a month and a half, archaeologists have found a new rune in Oslo. The artifact was unearthed during excavations by the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) for the medieval park in Oslo’s Old Town.

The latest discovery is a roughly cut wooden object that measures 11.4 centimeters in length, carved with eight runes.

Archaeologists found the wooden object in the same waste layer as the falcon figure found in December.

The discovered rune was deciphered by Kristel Zilmer, professor of runology at Universitetet Oslo.

Zilmer suggested that the text is an owner’s inscription, with the name spelled as ‘asbin’ and likely stands for ‘Ásbjǫrn’, a common Old Norse male name that can be found in medieval writings often written in Latin script. The rest of the text in Norse is ‘á mik’ which means ‘owns me’.

Professor Kristel Zilmer works with the reading of the third runic inscription from excavations in the Medieval Park. Photo:  Jorid Martinsen, NIKU.
Professor Kristel Zilmer works with the reading of the third runic inscription from excavations in the Medieval Park. Photo: Jorid Martinsen, NIKU.

The shape of the object suggests that it was used as a label or marker, possibly attached to something to indicate that ‘Asbjørn owns me’ to mark his property, such as goods or personal items.

“We can’t say anything about what Asbjørn has marked as himself,” says Trond Engen, field manager at Medieval Park.

Although we do not know what Asbjørn actually owned, the marker gives us the name of a real person who lived in Oslo in the 13th century, giving an insight into the city’s trading activity during the 13th century.

Common goods traded in medieval Oslo were imported grain, honey and other foods, salt, beer and wine, basic metal, ceramics and glass, clay pots, baking slabs, millstones and whetstones, imported textiles, etc. was.

Asbjørn was probably a trader that operated in the Klemetsallmenningen area of Olso around the harbour.

NIKU

Photo by Linda Åsheim.

Related Articles

One-of-a-kind 1000- years-old gold earring found in Denmark

13 December 2021

13 December 2021

A metal detectorist in Denmark uncovered a one-of-a-kind piece of 11th-century gold jewelry that had never been seen in Scandinavia...

The Catacombs of Commodilla in Rome will open to the public for the first time

21 September 2022

21 September 2022

The fourth-century Catacombs of Commodilla in Rome’s Garbatella district will reopen to the public soon after the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission...

More than 56400 Cultural Goods Seized in Operation Pandora V

11 May 2021

11 May 2021

Operation Pandora V, aimed at preventing the illegal trade of cultural goods, has been one of the most successful operations...

Assyrian seal found in the ancient Kef Fortress built by the Urartians

18 November 2024

18 November 2024

An alabaster seal, believed to be from the Assyrian Empire and belonging to a nobleman, was discovered in the ancient...

Archaeologists may have discovered lost settlement of Apancalecan in Mexico

3 August 2023

3 August 2023

Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in Guerrero discovered a prehistoric settlement spread across 29 hectares...

Hundreds Of Mummified Bees inside their Cocoons from the Time of the Pharaohs found in Portugal

25 August 2023

25 August 2023

Hundreds of mummified bees inside their cocoons have been found on the southwest coast of Portugal, in a new paleontological...

Archaeologists have discovered a treasure trove of sixth-century coins in ancient Phanagoria in Russia

27 July 2021

27 July 2021

Archaeologists have discovered 80 coins known as Copper staters dating back to the sixth century at Phanagoria on the Black...

A large hall from the time of Viking Harald Bluetooth discovered

26 December 2022

26 December 2022

A large hall from the reign of King Harald Bluetooth of Denmark and Norway was unearthed during housing construction work...

Discovery of immense 4,000-year-old fortifications surrounding the Khaybar Oasis, one of the longest-known Oasis

10 January 2024

10 January 2024

Archaeologists have recently made a groundbreaking discovery in northwestern Arabia, unearthing immense fortifications that date back an astonishing 4,000 years....

Mosaics found in Türkiye’s Sinop belong to dining room of a wealthy family

24 June 2023

24 June 2023

The pebble mosaics unearthed during the excavation of a building complex in the province of Sinop on Turkey’s Black Sea...

11,000-Year-Old LSU Campus Mounds Are Oldest Known Human-Made Structures In North America

23 August 2022

23 August 2022

According to new research published in the American Journal of Science, two six-meter (20-foot) high mounds on the campus of...

Floor Mosaic of the Early Byzantine Period Unearthed in St Constantine and Helena Monastery Church in Ordu

12 August 2024

12 August 2024

Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Culture and Tourism reported that an in-situ floor mosaic was found at the St Constantine...

Spectacular ancient mosaic found in Paphos, Cyprus

21 July 2021

21 July 2021

During the excavations carried out on Fabrika Hill in Kato Paphos, Cyprus, an ancient mosaic floor belonging to the Hellenistic...

Norwegian Boy in Search of Granddad’s Wedding Ring Finds 1500-year-old Roman Jewellery

11 August 2021

11 August 2021

Sander Magnus Vang (12) needed to find his grandfather’s lost wedding ring. Instead, he found a 1500-year-old ring. The golden...

Archaeologists discover Stargazer idol fragment in Turkey’s In the ancient city of Beçin

15 December 2021

15 December 2021

During archaeological excavations in the ancient city of Beçin in the Milas district of southern Turkey’s Muğla, the head of...