Looking for a woman: mysterious traces found on the oldest rune stone in the world

A study has shown that the world's oldest dated rune stone, found in 2023, is only part of a larger slab that is almost 2000 years old. Numerous rune-carved stones found throughout Scandinavia carry messages about a powerful Viking queen or warnings about climate change.

Evidence of runic writing dates back to the Roman Iron Age and the Viking Age, but researchers have puzzled over exactly when runes originated and what they mean for years. According to the researchers, the markings on a large piece of the oldest known rune stone in the world may contain a woman's name, CNN reports.

According to the University of Oslo's Museum of Cultural History, runes were the building blocks of the first Germanic script during the first few centuries AD and remained in use in Scandinavia until the late Middle Ages.

It is believed that the Germans drew inspiration from the Latin alphabet to create the symbols, but the exact origin of the runes and how they were used remains mysterious, CNN previously reported.

Mysterious markings in the form of spiders have appeared on memorial stones in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, commemorating a powerful Viking queen and even warning of a cold climate crisis based on past events. But many of these stones date back to the Viking Age, from about 800 to 1050 AD, and there are few examples of early runes, experts say.

Archaeologists who originally unearthed the oldest known rune stone while investigating an ancient grave in eastern Norway found a large piece covered with traces of runes. However, during field research, additional sandstone fragments, some with similar runic inscriptions, were found in other graves nearby.

It seemed that the broken pieces had joined together, and some of the runic writing from one stone continued on another, and the scientists realized that all the fragments had once been part of a single stone.

According to the researchers, the stone may have once marked a single grave but was eventually broken up as fragments were repurposed in subsequent burials.

Many of the signs are difficult to decipher. However, there is a woman's name and marks that can provide evidence of the oldest known woman who wrote runes and left her mark on the stone, scientists emphasize.

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