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Germanic runes found in an Early Slavic context
Highlights
• A rune-incised bone discovered in an Early Slavic context making it the first writing among Slavs.
• The find challenges the presumed sharp dicothomy between Germanic tribes and Early Slavs in Central Europe.
• Runology, radiocarbon dating and use-wear SEM microscopy authenticated the find.
• Target-enriched ancient DNA analysis allowed the bone to be identified as Bos taurus.
Abstract
When Roman administration and legions gradually withdrew from the outer provinces after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, they created a power void filled by various groups. The dynamic Migration Period that followed is usually considered to have ended when the Germanic Lombards allegedly left Central Europe and were replaced by Slavs. Whether or how Slavic and Germanic tribes interacted, however, is currently disputed. Here we report the first direct archaeological find in support of a contact: a bone fragment dated to ~600 AD incised with Germanic runes but found in Lány, Czechia, a contemporaneous settlement associated with Slavs. We documented and authenticated this artifact using a combined approach of use-wear analysis with SEM microscopy, direct radiocarbon dating, and ancient DNA analysis of the animal bone, thereby setting a new standard for the investigation of runic bones. [B]The find is the first older fuþark inscription found in any non-Germanic context and suggests that the presumed ancestors of modern Slavic speakers encountered writing much earlier than previously thought.[/B
The reported bone fragment, a rib, originates from Břeclav-Lány in South Moravia, Czechia. It was a typical example of an Early Slavic settlement of the 6th-7th century AD according to the definition of M. Parczewski (2004) and was continuously inhabited until the 9th century, as attested by direct dating and typological continuity in the archaeological record (Macháček et al., in press). This typological continuity from the Prague Culture to the Middle Hillfort Period is a feature of many Early Slavic sites (Profantová, 2012), including nearby Pohansko - the center of the Great Moravian polity, with well-attested Slavinity based on written sources - that extends this continuity until its fall in the 10th century (Macháček, 2010).
The rune-inscribed bone fragment (Fig. 1:B) was uncovered in the top section (0–25 cm) of Pit 25 (depth 70 cm), next to other animal bones and pottery of the Prague type (Fig. 1:C). This pit cannot be excavated fully because of full-grown trees. It was most probably a rest of a sunken-floored hut (Fig. 2). The archaeological finds from the pit consist of handmade pottery and clay pans (Fig. 1:C), which have been associated with competitive feasting and the rise of political leaders among those known from the written sources as Sclavenes/Slavs (Curta, 2017).Full paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...030?via%3DihubFrom a runologic perspective, the discovered inscription is readily attributed to the South Germanic corpus, albeit likely carved by an inexperienced artist. What is surprising, however, is the archaeological context of the find: it is the first runic item discovered in a non-Germanic context, namely in a settlement of the Prague Culture generally associated with Early Slavs.
The find therefore attests to a direct interaction between the Slavic and Germanic ethnolinguistic groups that were presumably differentiated in Central Europe during the 6th century. But the context of this find does not inform about the nature of this interaction. Given the cultural significance of runes to Germanic people but not Slavs, it appears unlikely that the bone was brought by Germanic merchants. Instead, the runes may have been incised by people of Germanic origin that remained in the region after the departure of the Lombards, or later immigrated. However, there is only anecdotal evidence for rare immigrants (Haury and Dewing, 1914–1928) and no convincing evidence for the survival of Germanic elements in Slavic territories, except in Pannonian Basin, where Slavs and Germanic peoples lived among other ethnolinguistic groups in the Avar khaganate (Koncz, 2015).
Alternatively, the runes may have been engraved by a Slav. If runic knowledge was transferred from Germanic peoples to Slavs, it must have happened in Central Europe as judged by the rune shapes. Or it may have persisted in the region as a result of population continuity between Lombards and Slavs. In contrast to other places (Brather, 2004), the Germanic and Slavic settlements followed each other closely in the region and the different ethnolinguistic groups could have merged towards the end of the Migration Period (Koncz, 2015). This is thought to have happened in the Balkans, where locals and non-locals cannot be archeologically distinguished and the term "Slavs'' may have been used as an umbrella term for groups living on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire (Curta, 2001).
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Originally Posted by Edgü
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