Danish archaeologists find knife with oldest runic script

Danish archaeologists have found a 2,000-year-old engraved knife on the island of Funen, Azernews reports, citing foreign media outlets.

It is believed that the knife is the oldest runic script found in Denmark, and helps researchers understand the oldest writing of the Scandinavian countries.

The knife is engraved with runes half a centimeter in size, forming the word hirila, which means "little sword" in Old Norse.

"We rarely found runes as ancient as those on this knife, and this is a unique opportunity to learn more about the earliest language of Denmark, and therefore about the language that was actually spoken in the Iron Age. At that time, literacy was not widespread, and therefore reading and writing were associated with special status and power. At the beginning of the history of runes, scribes formed a small intellectual elite, and the first traces of the existence of these people in Denmark can be found on Funen," says runologist Lisbeth Imer from the Danish National Museum.

The knife was found next to an urn in a grave east of the city of Odense on the island of Funen.

"This is an unusual find that speaks to the development of the earliest Scandinavian language," says Jacob Bonde, curator of the Odense Museum and the archaeologist who found the knife.

It is unclear who the knife belonged to, but it is assumed that it was someone from a high-ranking member of the society.