The Svingerud stone - the world's oldest dateable rune stone

 

Yesterday I went to the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo to buy a book, and also to check whether the world's oldest dateable rune had already been put on display. To my luck, this proved to be the case, and I was able to have my first encounter with the recently-excavated Svingerud stone. 

News of this find broke on January 17, when the museum publicised that excavations in Ringerike had yielded a rune stone found in layers from the first two centuries of the common era. The excavations were carried out in 2021, and for the past years runologists, linguists and archaeologists have examined and interpreted the stone and its several inscriptions. Runologist Kristel Zilmer provided a thorough and fascinating overview of the research process in a thread of tweets (in English), and another overview (in both English and Norwegian) was published on the website of the University of Oslo. A description of the exhibition is found on the museum's website.

The main inscription reads "idiberug", which is interpreted to be a woman's name, although the date of the inscription and the lack of comparable sources mean that is impossible to speak in certainties on this matter. The Svingerud stone - named after the location where it was found - also contains other human-made markings, but these are more difficult to interpret.  

idiberug

The exhibition is located in one of the smallest rooms in the museum's third floor, and it only contains the stone in its two fragments, a poster, and a video running on a loop. The video can also be seen on the museum's website. The smallness of the room is perfect for an exhibition of this kind, and as I entered I could note the excitement among the visitors gathered around the glass case, visitors ranging from around eight to around eighty. A member of staff was on site to answer questions, and as I stood and took it all in, I noted how several of the visitors turned to the guide or talked among themselves, both in Norwegian and in English. (It was especially heartening to learn that an American and his grandchild just happened to be in Oslo in time for the exhibition and had taken the opportunity to go.)  

It was a marvellously joyous occasion, as the buzz in the room was an almost tangible reminder of how much fascination and interest can be found among the members of the public, and how valuable such exhibitions are since they provide both an outlet and a focal point for this enthusiasm. I walked about the room taking photographs, listening to the video and the guide, and seeing the stone from various angles while letting other visitors close to the exhibition case as well. I was smiling stupidly behind my face mask, because I was reminded yet again how much interest people have in the past, and how energising that interest can be.  

The coming years will be very exciting, and I look forward to read the studies coming out from the team working on the Svingerud stone. We are presented with a chance to learn more about a part of Norway's history about which very little is known, and we are able to put our existing knowledge in a much wider context. The fact that this stone pushes the date for the carving of runes in what came to be Norway even further back in time means that we have to expand our chronological frame when thinking about the historical development of this geography. We - scholars, members of the public, the world at large - have an opportunity to learn and broaden our horizon, and this is in and of itself wonderful. 

The joy, the immense joy, in all of this is nonetheless tinged with some bitterness. While new finds are emerging from excavations and studies, while we have a large number of experts in relevant fields, and while we have an unprecedented level of knowledge about conservation, excavation, locating and interpreting the new materials that are found throughout Norway, we are also living in a time when jobs in the relevant fields are cut, funding is reduced, and money and monetisability remain the guiding stars for the people in charge. As a consequence, we are squandering our opportunities to make the most of the combination of expertise and materials, of enthusiasm and a public that is open to the news and the knowledge concerning these finds. I can only hope that we are slowly able to turn this trend and ensure that the requisite research is being done.