A rune bone and a rune stick were found a few days apart during excavations in the Medieval Park in Oslo just before Christmas, according to the site Forskning.no.
This is the first rune bone found in Oslo in more than 30 years, according to the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU).
The rune bone is probably from a large domestic animal such as a horse or cow.
Still, according to NIKU, the bone must undergo analysis before the scientist can know for sure.
In one week, NIKU archaeologists found a rune bone and a rune stick in the Medieval Park in Oslo. The rune stick has inscriptions in Norse and Latin. Photo: Jani Causevic, NIKU
Middle Ages inscriptions
"Finding runes was at the top of the wish list for this excavation," Solveig Thorkildsen stated in an article on niku.no.
Thorkildsen was the one who found the rune bone - a large rib with an inscription on both sides.
The inscriptions on the bone are from the Middle Ages, and according to Kristel Zilmer, the rune finds could teach us more about the medieval Oslo citizens.
Zilmer is a professor of writing culture and iconography at the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo.
Earlier in December, a unique knife shaft from the Middle Ages was found at the same location. The finds have been made about halfway through the excavations.
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