New Evidence Vikings Failed To Wipe Out Communities And Anglo-Saxon Monasteries

 

St Paul's Church, Jarrow. Credit: Adobe Stock - Electric Egg Ltd.

The new evidence is presented after a detailed examination of archaeological and historical evidence by Dr. Gabor Thomas from the Department of Archaeology at the University of Reading.

“The image of ruthless Viking raiders slaughtering helpless monks and nuns is based on written records, but a re-examination of the evidence shows the monasteries had more resilience than we might expect,” Dr. Thomas said.

Despite being located in a region of Kent that bore the full brunt of Viking raids in the later 8th and early 9th centuries, the evidence suggests that the monastic community at Lyminge not only survived these attacks but recovered more completely than historians previously thought, Dr Thomas concludes in research, published today (30 January 2023) in the journal Archaeologia

During archaeological excavations between 2007-15 and 2019, archaeologists uncovered the main elements of the monastery, including the stone chapel at its heart surrounded by a wide swathe of wooden buildings and other structures where the monastic brethren and their dependents lived out their daily lives. Radiocarbon dating of butchered animal bones discarded as rubbish indicates that this occupation persisted for nearly two centuries following the monastery’s establishment in the second half of the 7th century.

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The Oldest Rune Stones in the World

The Svingerud Stone is the oldest rune stone, created almost two thousand years ago

There are many things that come into mind when thinking of Vikings – horned helmets, which are historically inaccurate, longships that brought terror to Europe, Norse gods that have been turned into Hollywood super heroes and, the subject of this article, their unique way of writing.

The runic alphabet developed among the early Germanic people of Northern Europe almost 2,000 years ago. How it was created it still not fully understood, though it is widely believed that contact with Mediterranean civilisations – Greeks, Etruscans and Romans – influenced the creation of this writing system.

Some of the best preserved examples of this script can be found on rune stones, including the lions-hare located in Sweden. They had many varied purposes ranging from marking territory to memorialising fallen kinsmen. Rune stones used to be highly colourful, though hundreds of years of being out in the open means very little is left for modern observers.

Here were look at some of the oldest rune stones found by archeologists.

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How does the Nordic Cosmic System Depend on the Yggdrasil Tree?

The concept of a world tree is present in many cultures’ legends. Examples of this include the sacred Bodhi fig tree under which the Buddha reached Enlightenment, and the holy Aśvattha tree believed by Hindus to have no beginning or end. Certain trees are still considered to hold power in Scandinavian culture. Thought to bless their caretakers with good luck, farmers still plant warden trees in Norway and Sweden. In Norse mythology, the cosmic tree of life is arguably the most important element of their spiritual world. The Yggdrasil tree is grounded at the center of the universe, with the nine worlds revolving around it, held in place by its branches and roots. Here is an exploration into why this tree is deeply significant in the Norse spiritual cosmos.

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Norwegian archaeologists uncover the world's oldest runestone

The runestone found at Tyrifjorden, Norway, shown at the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo
AP Photo

Runestones, typically raised at gravesites during the Viking era, are stones inscribed with runic letters, the oldest known alphabet in Scandinavia. 

The discovery of this runestone is particularly significant as it predates previously known examples by several hundred years, and could date back to the time of Jesus Christ. 

"We thought that the first runestones in Norway and Sweden appeared in the 300s or 400s, but it turns out that some could be even older than we previously believed," said runologist Kristel Zilmer. "It's a unique discovery," she added.

The inscription on the runestone, which has been retranscribed into the Latin alphabet, is believed to be in honor of the person buried in the grave. The meaning of the word "idiberug" is still a mystery, but researchers are working to uncover its significance. 

“This find will give us a lot of knowledge about the use of runes in the early Iron Age. This may be one of the first attempts to use runes in Norway and Scandinavia on stone,” Kristel Zilmer, a professor at University of Oslo says. The runestone found at Tyrifjorden, Norway, shown at the Museum of Cultural History in OsloAP Photo

Runestones, typically raised at gravesites during the Viking era, are stones inscribed with runic letters, the oldest known alphabet in Scandinavia. 

The discovery of this runestone is particularly significant as it predates previously known examples by several hundred years, and could date back to the time of Jesus Christ. 

"We thought that the first runestones in Norway and Sweden appeared in the 300s or 400s, but it turns out that some could be even older than we previously believed," said runologist Kristel Zilmer. "It's a unique discovery," she added.

The inscription on the runestone, which has been retranscribed into the Latin alphabet, is believed to be in honor of the person buried in the grave. The meaning of the word "idiberug" is still a mystery, but researchers are working to uncover its significance. 

“This find will give us a lot of knowledge about the use of runes in the early Iron Age. This may be one of the first attempts to use runes in Norway and Scandinavia on stone,” Kristel Zilmer, a professor at University of Oslo says. 

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Enigmatic Ale’s Stones – Sweden’s Megalithic Ship-Like Formation

 

Ales stones, Hesten and others (Valleberga 20:1). Image credit: Jorchr - CC BY-SA 4.0

Myths, legends, and mystery surround this fascinating megalithic formation consisting of 58 (59) upright boulders and one vertical (weighing up to 1.8 tons each) - placed in a gigantic ship formation, 67 meters in length and 19 meters wide.

The largest stones are almost 3.5-meter and are called "bow" and "stern." They are directed towards the sunrise at the time of the summer solstice, and the sunset at the time of the winter solstice.

The Ales Stenar - Sweden's largest stone complex dates back to the Bronze or Iron Age. From a bird's eye view, it resembles the shape of a boat. It is not known who and for what purpose built it. Not even experts know why this complex was built.

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Mysterious Svingerud Stone – World’s Oldest Rune Stone With Enigmatic Inscriptions Investigated By Experts – What Does It Say?

 

These runes were inscribed between the years 1 and 250 AD and date back to the earliest days of the enigmatic history of runic writing. Credit: Photo - Alexis Pantos/KHM, UiO

The story goes back to the autumn of 2021, archaeologists of the Museum of Cultural History investigated a grave field by Tyrifjorden in Ringerike. They discovered a stone with several runic inscriptions in one of the graves. Burnt bones and charcoal from the grave reveal that the runes were inscribed between 1 and 250 AD. This makes it the earliest known rune stone.

The stone has been named after the place of discovery and is now called the Svingerud stone.

Sometime between 1,800 and 2,000 years ago, someone stood near Tyrifjorden and carved runes into the 31x32 cm block of reddish-brown Ringerike sandstone. They spoke an early form of the ancient Nordic language, the ancestor language of modern Nordic languages in Scandinavia today.

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Norway reveals stone tablet providing clues to origins of Western writing

The ancient rune stone found by Norwegian researchers is believed to be between 1,800 and 2,000 years old. It was found buried beneath a later grave.
Photo courtesy of Museum of Cultural History

Norway is set to unveil an ancient rune stone found in the east of the country dating back as much as 2,000 years that is providing the missing pieces to the puzzle of the origins of writing in northern Europe.

Researchers from the University of Oslo's Museum of Cultural History found the block of sandstone on an Iron Age grave site dig near Tyrifjorden, northwest of Oslo, in late 2021. They now believe it is the world's oldest rune stone and that the characters on the stone are one of the earliest examples of writing in Scandinavia because radiocarbon dating shows the grave dates back to 1-250 CE.

The stone, which is creating a stir internationally among runologists and archaeologists, is going on display to the public as the centerpiece of a new exhibition opening on Saturday at the Historical Museum in Oslo.

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Found the world's oldest rune stone

Photo: Alexis Pantos/KHM, UiO.

During the first few centuries of the Common Era, during the period that archaeologists call the Roman Iron Age, Scandinavians came into contact with Roman society by trading goods and through their encounters with the Roman army. Archaeological material testifies to the fact that this is how they acquired knowledge about new customs and forms of organisation, and not least a written culture. 

Inspired by the classical alphabets, such as the Roman alphabet, the Germanic peoples created their own characters – runes. But exactly how old is the runic alphabet, and when were the first rune stones made? These are questions that researchers have been seeking to answer for many years. 

A new archaeological find is attracting international attention among runic scholars and archaeologists: the world's oldest dated rune stone was discovered during the autumn of 2021 when archaeologists at the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, investigated a grave field in Hole near Tyrifjorden, Eastern Norway. Radiocarbon dates show that the age of the grave and thus the inscriptions on the stone probably date back to 1-250 CE. This rune stone is thus one of the very earliest examples of words recorded in writing in Scandinavia, and the inscriptions provide new insights into the development and use of runic writing during the early Iron Age. 

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Norway reveals stone tablet providing clues to origins of Western writing

The ancient rune stone found by Norwegian researchers is believed to be between 1,800 and 2,000 years old. It was found buried beneath a later grave.
Photo courtesy of Museum of Cultural History

Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Norway is set to unveil an ancient rune stone found in the east of the country dating back as much as 2,000 years that is providing the missing pieces to the puzzle of the origins of writing in northern Europe.

Researchers from the University of Oslo's Museum of Cultural History found the block of sandstone on an Iron Age grave site dig near Tyrifjorden, northwest of Oslo, in late 2021. They now believe it is the world's oldest rune stone and that the characters on the stone are one of the earliest examples of writing in Scandinavia because radiocarbon dating shows the grave dates back to 1-250 CE.

The stone, which is creating a stir internationally among runologists and archaeologists, is going on display to the public as the centerpiece of a new exhibition opening on Saturday at the Historical Museum in Oslo.

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The Viking Age

Statue of Scandinavian God Odin with two Vikings.
Editorial credit: drumdredd777 / Shutterstock.com

The stereotype of a Viking is usually that of a bloodthirsty brute hellbent on the destruction of the civilized world. While this image is often exaggerated to the point of parody in modern television and film, this over-the-top representation is still based on some truth.

The Vikings did not keep records like the Christian kingdoms of Dark Ages Europe. So, we do not really have a good idea of how the Vikings viewed themselves or the many peoples with whom they came in contact. The only surviving historical records are mainly written by the people who were often victimized by Viking raids and invasions. As you can imagine, these Medieval chroniclers' opinions of the Vikings are far from favorable.  

The first recorded Viking raid occurred on Lindisfarne island in modern-day England. Lindisfarne was home to an isolated monastery filled with a small population of monks and townsfolk. Churches and other religious buildings at that time would have been among the few places where wealth and valuables would have been stored. An island filled with riches, being defended by unarmed monks and peasants, meaning that just about anyone could have come and taken what they wanted. And that is exactly what the Vikings did in 793 AD. Much of the remote settlement was destroyed, and its population was either killed in the raid or enslaved.

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Vikings in North America? Here's what we really know

 

Anyone standing today by the wind-swept shore of Epaves Bay at the northern tip of Newfoundland might find it hard to comprehend the enormity of the modest archaeological site that extends around them. Here, at L’Anse aux Meadows—the name is probably a garbled reference to an old French naval vessel—lies what is still the only known Norse settlement in North America. A few humps and bumps in the grass, a replica building, and a fine museum mark the point of first contact between human populations across the Atlantic. It is an astonishing place, but its significance was only recognised in relatively recent decades.

Until as late as the 1960s, the Viking adventure in North America was known only second-hand from the Icelandic sagas, the great epic tales that form one of the jewels of northern medieval literature. These stories mostly concern the Viking age of roughly A.D. 750-1050, but they were written down hundreds of years later, primarily in the 13th century. The degree to which they preserve genuine memories of the saga-writers’ ancestors, or whether they are more a form of historical fiction, still divides scholars today. The entire narrative of Norse voyages to North America is contained in just two of these texts, the Saga of the Greenlanders (Grænlendinga saga) and the Saga of Erik the Red (Eiríks saga rauða).

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