World's oldest runestone discovered in Norway

The stone, named "Swingerud Stone" after the site where it was discovered in the autumn of 2021 during the archaeological excavations that preceded the construction of the road, is on display at the Museum of Cultural History of the University of Oslo. Its discoverers call it "the oldest runestone". Samples of charcoal and bones from the cremation pit where it was discovered have been radiocarbon dated to between AD 25 and 250.

Inscriptions in the alphabet adopted by the peoples of Northern Europe and Scandinavia, around 1900 years old, remain ambiguous. It will serve as the basis for discussions between experts on the ancient runic, this script adopted in the early Christian era by the Germanic and Scandinavian peoples, writes Lemonde.

Earlier it became known about the oldest “golden” mummy discovered in Egypt, whose age is more than four thousand years.