Svingerud runestone, Ancient runestone at Tyrifjorden, Norway
The Svingerud runestone is a small red-brown sandstone block displaying eight distinct runic inscriptions carved across its surface. The marks were carefully etched into the material and remain clearly visible despite their great age.
This artifact dates between year 0 and 250 CE and was discovered during autumn excavations in 2021. It ranks as the oldest documented runestone in the world, providing evidence of the earliest runic writing forms.
The stone displays the first three runes of the runic sequence and shows how early Germanic peoples documented their writing systems. These marks reveal how people at that time recorded important information and names.
The artifact is now housed in the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo where visitors can view it on display. Since this piece is quite small and fragile, it is kept behind protective glass for preservation.
The carving may preserve the name of a person, possibly Idibera or a similar name in early Germanic language. This makes the stone a rare record of early personal names that survived in this form.
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