30 May 2023 The Future is the Product of the Past

Norse Runic Text found in Oslo could be Prayer!

Archaeologists from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Studies (NIKU) have unearthed two objects inscribed in Norse runic text in Oslo’s Medieval Park ‘Middelalderparken’, located in the southern part of what was once the medieval city of Oslo.

Researchers discovered a bone, one inscribed in Norse, and the other a piece of wood with inscriptions on three sides, but written in both Scandinavian and Latin.

Kristel Zilmer, professor of writing culture (runology) and iconography at UiO, both studied the finds and gave some initial interpretations of the text.

“These are two interesting discoveries that expand our knowledge of runic knowledge, writing, and language use in medieval cities,” she says.

 Bone artefact with Norse runes. Photo: Jani Causevic, NIKU
Bone artifact with Norse runes. Photo: Jani Causevic, NIKU

Although the piece of wood is partially damaged, Zilmer identified “manus Domine / i” in Latin and the female name “Bryngjerd, er det / som det…” in Norse. The wood also has eight small signs that can make sense as both a statement in Latin or a continuation in Norse, which is possibly the phrase “It is true”.

Manus means “hand” and Dominus “lord, God”, which could be part of a Latin prayer “In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum. Redemisti me Domine, Deus veritatis”, meaning “Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. You have redeemed me, O Lord, O God of truth”.

Bone artefact with Norse and Latin inscriptions
Bone artifact with Norse and Latin inscriptions. Photo: NIKU

A bone that comes from a large domestic animal such as a horse or a cow has thirteen clear runes on one side and one faint rune with an inscription on the other. The discovered bone is the first runic bone found in Oslo in over thirty years and either refers to a personal name or nickname in the inscription “basmarþærbæin” or simply describes the artifact using the four final bæin (Norse bone) runes which refer to the bone itself.

Osteological examinations can answer whether the bone came from a horse, cow, or sheep.

“Finding runes was at the top of my wish list for this dig,” says Solveig Thorkildsen, who found the rune bone.

This is the first rune bone found in Oslo in over three decades. In total, only 27 runic letters were found in the capital.

NIKU

Banner
Related Post

A 2,000-year-old whistle was found in a child’s grave in the ruins of Assos, Turkey

18 October 2022

18 October 2022

A terracotta whistle believed to be 2,000 years old from the Roman era and placed as a gift in a...

A Roman sarcophagus bearing the title of “Emperor’s Protector” was found for the first time in Anatolia

29 April 2022

29 April 2022

A sarcophagus carrying the title of “Emperor’s protector” was discovered in the province of Kocaeli in western Turkey. With the...

Archaeologists discovered the secret ingredient that made Mayan plaster durable

20 April 2023

20 April 2023

Ancient Mayan masons had their own secrets for making lime plasters, mortars, and plasters, which they used to build their...

The Oldest Odin Inscription in the World Found in the Vindelev treasure

8 March 2023

8 March 2023

Scientists have identified the earliest known inscription referring to the Norse god Odin on part of a gold disc unearthed...

Part of The ‘Missing Link’ in Human Migration may have been Found in Kaldar Cave

3 April 2021

3 April 2021

Kaldar cave is an important archaeological site that provides evidence for the transition from the Middle and Upper Paleolithic Ages...

The ‘boiler room’ of the bath in the Ancient City of Metropolis was unearthed

11 August 2022

11 August 2022

The vault section, called the ‘boiler room’, which provides a heat source, has been unearthed in the historical bath of...

Ukrainian Stonehenge

6 July 2021

6 July 2021

It has almost become a tradition to compare the structures surrounded by stones to the Stonehenge monument. This ancient cemetery,...

Interesting discovery at Crowland digs, a human poo from the Saxon period or coprolite found

16 August 2021

16 August 2021

Excavations in Abbey Church Field in Crowland, near Peterborough, have also yielded such amazing finds results for archaeologists. The archaeological...

Researchers found similar descriptions in the Book of Revelation and ancient curse tablets

10 February 2023

10 February 2023

A research project headed by Dr. Michael Hölscher of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), has uncovered that the book of...

Unlucky medieval woman underwent at least two skull surgeries in Longobard Italy

14 February 2023

14 February 2023

A detailed examination of the skull of a woman who lived at the medieval settlement of Castel Trosino in central...

INAH Archaeologists recover the coyote-man of Tacámbaro

26 January 2022

26 January 2022

Archaeologists win the coyote-man trial that lasted 30 years in Mexico. The litigation regarding the coyote-man of Tacámbaro, an important...

Seven Roman altars multicolored in the Great Northern Museum

12 November 2021

12 November 2021

We know that the ancient world is now very colorful. But these colors weren’t just limited to robes and other...

An inscription with the name of the ancient city was found at the excavation site in Gordion, the capital of the Phrygians

8 August 2022

8 August 2022

An inscription bearing the name of the ancient city was found at the excavation site in Gordion, the capital of...

Gladiators’ ancient hygiene tools on exhibit in Izmir

22 July 2021

22 July 2021

Turkey’s Izmir Archaeological Museum is hosting a different exhibition this month. A bronze strigil is the museum’s guest this month...

Flint tools found in Tunel Wielki Cave, Poland, about half a million years old

9 October 2022

9 October 2022

Flint tools discovered over 50 years ago in the Tunel Wielki Cave (Maopolskie region) are not tens of thousands of...

Comments
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *