2,000-year-old knife believed to be the oldest runes ever found in Denmark, discovered by archaeologists

An engraving on an almost 2,000-year-old knife believed to be the oldest runes ever found in Denmark has been discovered by archaeologists

Denmark's oldest runes found on Funen. Small knife with runic inscription Hirila

Archaeologists have found a small knife with a completely unique runic inscription that can be dated almost 2000 years ago.

Archaeologists from Museum Odense have found Denmark’s oldest runic inscription, hirila, inscribed on a nearly 2000-year-old knife blade. The knife was found under the remains of an urn grave in a small burial ground east of Odense on the island of Funen and can be dated as far back as 150 AD.

They, along with an inscribed bone comb discovered nearby in 1865, are Denmark’s oldest runes. Jakob Bonde, the city’s museum curator and archeologist who made the discovery, said he initially thought it was an ordinary knife because the runes were not visible, but after conservators cleaned it, it was clear that it contained a word.

The runes on the knife are written with the oldest known runic alphabet, and therefore the new find is a very important part of the understanding and interpretation of the very oldest use of writing in Denmark and the Nordic region.