EARLY KNOWLEDGE OF Till: /.T.Y/.X 



inn 



found in the Nydam, Vimose, Thorsberg, &c. finds \vc know 

 that the people knew the art at the period to which the coins 

 belong, but this is far from proving- to us that they had just 

 learned the art of writing; people do not learn how to write 

 first on objects of gold and silver; but, at any rate, we can fix 

 a date as early as the second or third century of the Christian 

 era. It must be admitted as surprising, if the Northern peoples 

 were so advanced as to manufacture the beautiful weapons and 

 artistic articles found in the graves and elsewhere, they had 

 not also instituted a coinage of their own. 



That the knowledge of runes did not come to the North 

 before that of working iron is almost certain, as no runes have 

 been found there on the objects belonging to the bronze age. 

 A fact we must bear in mind is, that in the earlier graves of 

 the iron age, many of which are of greater antiquity than the 

 bog finds, 1 the objects were so thoroughly destroyed on the 

 pyre, that all traces of runic character upon them would dis- 

 appear. 



Besides the runes found inscribed upon jewels, weapons, 



1 J can give an example that has 

 lately come to my knowledge to prove 

 this assertion. Professor Lorange found 

 runes on parts of burnt bones found 

 in a grave which he with Professor 

 Stephens places, judging from the antiqui- 

 ties whicli belonged to it, as belonging 

 to the sixth century. 



" RUNE-INSCRIBED BURNT BONE. 



" In a letter dated Feb. 27th, 18dG, I 

 received from my friend the gifted Nor- 

 wegian old-lorist A. Lorauge, Keeper 

 of the Bergen Forn-hall, a facsimile 

 drawing of a piece of burnt bone, 

 shortly before found in a grave-urn from 

 the early iron age at Jsederen. After- 

 wards he kindly sent the original to the 

 Danish Museum, that I might give a 

 faultless engraving. While there, the 

 frail treasure was scientifically treated 

 by Hr. Steffensen, the Conservator, and it 

 is now quite hard and in excellent order. 

 But even when it was taken from the 

 urn, the runes were sharp and quite 

 readable. These Old-Northern letters 

 were elegantly cut, most of them in 

 decorative writing, that is, with two or 

 three strokes instead of one, very much 



in the style of the (? 7th century) Old- 

 Danish Bone Amulet found at Lindholm 

 in Scane, Sweden ('Old Northern Run. 

 Mon.,' vol. i., p. 219; iii., p. 33; 4t.> 

 Handbook, p. 24) ; and of the ashen 

 Lance-shaft from the Danish Kragehul 

 Moss, not later than the year 400 

 ('0. N. Run. Mon.,' vol. iii , p. 133; 4to 

 Handbook, p. 90). 



"This burnt bone is nearly 4 inches 

 long ; average width, \ inch. It bears 

 over forty rune-staves, cut in two lines, 

 in the Boustrophedon order. 



" From the rune-types and language 

 I judged this piece to date from the 

 6th century. But as Hr. Lorauge was 

 familiar with the build and grave-gear 

 of the tumuli of a similar class, I begged 

 him to say whether exclusively from 

 his standpoint as archaeologist he agreed 

 with me. He replied, that he cliil. 



" If 1 have read the runes aright, this 

 object also has been a heathen amulet. 

 It is the first burnt bone yet loun.l 

 risti'd ii-itli runes. Other such we may 

 have lost, for want of lynx-eyed examina- 

 tion. 



"GEORGE STEPHENS, 

 " Cheapinghaveu, Denmark. 

 r>, 1886." 



