Archaeologists discovered an engraving on a 2,000-year-old knife: this is the oldest runic inscription in Denmark – photo
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In Denmark, on the island of Funen, archaeologists found an 8-centimeter iron knife, which is about 2,000 years old. A runic inscription is engraved on it.
According to the researchers, the find contains the alphabet of Denmark’s oldest script, writes The Guardian.
The knife was found near the city of Odense in a grave under a burial urn.
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On it, they saw five symbols, each about 0.5 centimeters high, which make up the word hirila, which means “small sword” in Old Norse, the researchers say.
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| Photo: Rogvi N Johansen/Museum Odense |
The knife, along with a bone comb found in 1865, is said to be the oldest runes ever discovered in Denmark.
According to the author of the study and archaeologist Jacob Bonde, it was not immediately possible to see the word on the knife.
“It’s like getting a note from the other world, from the past. For us, this is an extraordinary find that says something about the development of the oldest Scandinavian language.”says Bonde.
Researchers assume that the owner of the knife could be a person with a high status in society.
A runologist from the National Museum of Denmark, Lisbeth Imer, noted that the find can help learn more about the country’s history.
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| Photo: Jakob Bond/Museum Odense |
“It is very rare to find runes of such an age as on this knife. This gives us a unique opportunity to gain more knowledge about Denmark’s earliest writing, and therefore the language that was spoken during the Iron Age.
In that period, the ability to read and write was not particularly widespread. It is believed that at the beginning of runic history, people who knew how to write constituted a small intellectual elite.” – added Lisbeth Imer.
It is known that on February 2 the knife will join the ranks of exhibits in the Odense museum. Along with it, other artifacts found at the excavation site will be shown.
We previously reported that a man in Turkey found a 2,000-year-old underground city under his own house.
Read also: In Italy, archaeologists discovered a tomb that is about 2,600 years old: what they found. PHOTO
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