Runic writing can be an enigmatic field of study: Scholars agree that runes were influenced by an older writing system, but just which one, and when, remain the subject of academic debate.

It is rare to find a rune stone with early forms of runic writing. Now, pieces of sandstone from the Svingerud burial field in Hole, Norway, are thought to be the oldest rune stones in the world.

Runes are the oldest form of writing in Norway. Though they are most commonly associated with the Vikings , who ruled Scandinavia from about AD 800 to AD 1100, archaeologists know they were in use ...

Archeologists in Norway have discovered the world’s oldest dated runestone, featuring runic inscriptions from up to 2,000 years ago. Researchers at the University of Oslo’s Museum of Cultural ...

Older runes have been found on other items, but not on stone. A rune stone discovered in Norway is being called the world’s oldest, bearing inscriptions that date back to the earliest known days ...

About 2,000 years ago, someone inscribed a series of runes into a square block of sandstone near Lake Tyri, in the Ringerike region of Norway. The person wasn’t the most assured of carvers and ...

Mysterious runic inscription is found on a stone tool used to sharpen Vikings' blades more than 1,000 years ago. The whetstone was found among artefacts dating from around 1050 to 1500 AD ...

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Runes, the oldest form of writing in Scandinavia, are the result of what happened when one community met ...

Humans Ancient Scandinavians wrote encrypted messages in runes 1500 years ago. Objects from Norway and Sweden, some dating from AD 500 to 700, show clear evidence of encryption using runic symbols ...

Runic letters, called runes, are the oldest alphabet known in Scandinavia. ... around 4,000 BC, but there are no traces of any writing before the Roman Iron Age (0 to 400 AD).