#ELEMENTS OF ELDER FUTHARK RUNES SERIES#

Over time, these became more and more elaborate. Others have scenes which are more likely to be Christian, such as the Christ-like figure on the Jelling Stone. Often the runic inscription is incorporated into the design of the decoration, being enclosed in long, curving and interlacing ribbons combined with biting animal heads. Some, such as Sigurdsristningen in Sweden, have depictions from Norse mythology. Some rune stones have elaborate decorations accompanying the inscriptions. Finally, it is rare than there is any contextual evidence-evidence from around the stone that might be related to when it was put up-can be found. However, we must rely on other factors to provide concrete dates: relative typologies can only give us a broad sense of when a stone might have been erected in relation to other stones. By looking at the development of decoration styles, we can come up with what is known as a relative typology-we can learn to recognise which styles came earlier and which were later depending on the development of certain features. We might therefore end up with forms that look like later features but are in fact just regional variants.ĭating stones by looking at decorations is also an imprecise art. Linguistic dating and runic features are particularly challenging: although we know that both the Norse language and the runic alphabet were slowly changing throughout this period, this happened in different ways and at different rates depending on the region. These changes occurred due to the conversion to Christianity and the influence of Latin manuscripts.Īnd contextual information.

#ELEMENTS OF ELDER FUTHARK RUNES SERIES#

After the Viking Age, the alphabet began to change again: a series of new staves were added in order to bring the Futhark in line with the Latin alphabet once more.

The Elder Futhark was never used in the Viking Age. It changed in part because the Scandinavian languages were evolving from Proto-Germanic, to Proto-Norse to Old Norse. This alphabet was used from the second century AD up until around 700, by which point it had started to evolve into the Younger Futhark. This consisted of twenty-four characters which broadly correspond to the Latin alphabet, upon which it was mostly based. The earliest runic alphabet is known as the Elder Futhark.

You will often see a runic alphabet being referred to as a futhark this name is based on the order of the first six runes (th was represented by a single rune), much in the same way that the word ‘alphabet’ derives from the Greek letters ‘alpha’ and ‘beta’.

Elements of elder futhark runes