The Runes from Illerup River Valley

Abstract

The Runes from Illerup River Valley

From the sacrifices of war booty at Thorsbjerg and Vimose, early runic inscriptions are known. Expectations of further finds of runes from the Late Roman Iron Age were therefore great when in 1975 we resumed the excavations in Illerup river valley, and so far the results have been abundant.

The first of four inscriptions was found on a shield handle mounting of bronze (fig. 1). On the one handle surface of the mounting was the inscription swarta, a man's name, probably that of the owner of the shield. The inscription would have been visible to the bearer of the shield.

The next two inscriptions were identical, oj ingaz, one of which was carved, the other stamped, on lance heads of Vennolum type (4) (fig. 2). The runes were placed on the blades of the lance heads, which were also ornamented with chasing. The two inscriptions were not made on the lance heads later than the other ornamentation.

The last inscription was found on a plane excavated in 1980, and dates from one of the great piles of objects which were part of the earliest sacrifice in the find. Fig. 3 indicates the fragmented condition of the plane.

On the basis of a comparison to a similar plane from the Vimose find (5) we can estimate its original length to about 40 cm. Its greatest dimension is now 22.3 cm. The underside of the plane is hollow, and there can be no doubt that it was used for planing off spear and lance shafts. Fig. 3 also shows ornamentation which had covered most of the surface of the plane. Straight lines, carved with a sharp knife, are placed in various patterns.

The runes, which are read as afi(l)aiki (7) are carved in exactly the same manner, and the inscription must have been made at the same time as the rest of the ornamentation.

Dating

All the runic inscriptions were found on objects which were part of the earliest sacrifice of the Illerup find.

Investigations in recent years have shown that this sacrifice covers a considerable area, at present at least 30,000 sq. m. On the basis of the assembling of fragments from different areas to one and the same weapon, we believe it certain that site 2 was sacrificed on a single occasion.

As an absolute chronological fixed point for the dating of the runes from Illerup, we have the coins, the Roman denarii. The youngest among the approximately 125 denarii found at site 2 was struck 187-88 AD, and consequently the sacrifice must have been made after this date. The difference between the latest denarius and the sacrifice can hardly be greater than 10-15 years.

This evaluation is based in part upon the chronological distribution of the coins, in part upon the relative chronology of the Late Roman Iron Age in Northern Europe. The site 2 sacrifice contains leading types (such as early variants of shield bosses of Jahn's form 6) for Godlowski's horizon 2a, that is, in per. C 1b of the relative chronology (12).

To elucidate the relative weapon chronology, we have worked out a diagram of type combinations (fig. 4) in which the vertical columns are the weapon graves and the horizontal rows are the various weapon types of chronological importance. The limits of the periods are indicated in the diagram.

In connection with his treatment of the Thorsbjerg find, (14), Raddatz has juxtaposed the North European relative chronology to the absolute, Roman chronology. One of the most significant results was the determination of period C 1's beginning to before the Marcomanni Wars (166-180).

Inscriptions found in bogs

In an earlier work (8), an attempt has been made to evaluate the complex Vimose find. The spear head and lance head types indicated that by far the largest part of the find was sacrificed in per. C 1b. It is probable that the five objects with runes from the Vimose find belong to the main sacrifice. In any case, they are not later, as a subsequent intermixture of military equipment cannot be observed.

For the past fifty years, the Thorsbjerg find has been regarded as a gradual accumulation of objects belonging to the local population (25). A new study of the find, however, shows that Thorsbjerg can be interpreted as three sacrifices of war booty, the largest of which, from per. C 1b, includes more than 90% of the material. On the basis of the fibula types, it has also been shown that the sacrificed objects from this period belonged to an army which originated in the region between the Elbe and the Rhine (26).

The ferrule and the fragmented bronze shield boss with the runic inscriptions belonged to the main sacrifice, and the ferrule inscription, at least, comes from the West Germanic region. The shield boss inscription was possibly made in connection with the sacrifice.

Inscriptions from graves and stray finds

The Norwegian grave complex from Stabu contains a lance head with runes (37). Stabu consists of at least three interments, but the runic lance of Vennolum type can only be ascribed to per. C 1b.

The Mos grave on Gotland has not been professionally investigated (42). The lance head with incrusted runes is linked to the Gamme type (8), but differs from this by the shape of the socket. The spear head with a bead on the socket from the Mos grave appears most frequently in per. C 1a, but in the Norwegian Hunn grave, for example, it is found in a C 1b context. If the shield handle mounting and the shield boss belong together with the runic lance, then a dating to per. C 1b is certain.

The Mos lance is related to the incrusted lance heads from Dahmsdorf (46), Kowel (47), and the spear head from Rozwadow (48). A dating of the three East European pieces to per. C 1a is not improbable, but on the other hand it cannot be proven.

In the earliest group of runic inscriptions, we ought to include the five inscriptions on fibulae from Gårdlösa (49), Værløse (51), Næsbjerg (52), Himlingøje (53), and Nøvling (54), which are dated to per. C 1b or slightly later.

Comparative remarks

With the find of the plane from Illerup, a total of 21 inscriptions from the period c. 200 AD is known. This sudden and overwhelming appearance of runes can be explained on the basis of the nature of the source material: first, the thousands of well-preserved objects from the sacrifices of war booty at Vimose, Thorsbjerg, and Illerup; second, the rich graves from the beginning of the Late Roman Iron Age.

In a runic context, there is a fundamental difference between the find groups. Whereas the graves are exponents for the local society, the sacrifices of war booty are characteristic for a society other than that of the find area. The available maps of the distribution of the runes (56) therefore cannot form a basis for the determination of the area in which runic script originated.

The archaeological determination of the spreading of the runes to the Scandinavian as well as the East and West Germanic areas c. 200 AD confirms the assumption prevailing in alphabet history that runes were known far earlier.

In an attempt to explain why and how runes originated, runologists stress the strong connections between the Roman Empire and Germania Libera in the first centuries AD (58). This explanation is plausible, but can be further elaborated by calling attention to the massive presence of Latin letters on Roman coins throughout Germania in that very period, the couple of centuries AD.

Jørgen llkjær, Jørn Lønstrup