Ribe skull fragment

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The Ribe skull fragment (DR EM85;151B in Rundata, also known as DK SJy39) is a section of human skull bone inscribed with runes and unearthed in 1973 in an archaeological excavation at Ribe, Denmark. It dates to circa 725 CE.[1]

Description[]

The skull fragment is approximately 6 x 8.5 cm in size and has been taken from the top of a cranium.[2] It has a hole bored in it and it is inscribed with transitional Younger Futhark runes. The runic inscription retains two character shapes from the Elder Futhark, ᚺ (H) and ᛗ (M).

ᚢᛚᚠᚢᛦᛡᚢᚴᚢᚦᛁᚾᛡᚢᚴᚺᚢᛏᛁᚢᛦ ¶ ᚺᛁᛡᛚᛒᛒᚢᚱᛁᛁᛋᚢᛁᚦᛦ ¶ ᚦᛡᛁᛗᛡᚢᛁᛡᚱᚴᛁᛡᚢᚴᛏᚢᛁᚱᚴᚢᚾᛁᚾ ¶ ᛒᚢᚢᚱ

These transliterate as:

ulfuʀAukuþinAukHutiuʀ ¶ HiAlbburiisuiþʀ ¶ þAiMAuiArkiAuktuirkunin ¶ buur

Interpretation[]

A possible interpretation of the inscription is:

Ulfr auk Ōðinn auk Hō-tiur. Hjalp buri es viðr þæima værki. Auk dverg unninn. Bōurr.
Ulfr and Odin and High-tiur. buri is help against this pain. And the dwarf (is) overcome. Bóurr.[3]

Where "Ulfr" may refer to the wolf Fenrir, "Odin" to the god Odin, and "High-tiur" to the god Týr. buri would then refer to the god Búri, but one should note that the runic buri can also be read as "hole",[4] or as the dative of a name Burr, in which case the meaning would be "It serves as help for Buri against the pain".[2]

It has been suggested that the existence of a hole in the fragment may indicate its use as an amulet,[5] however, there is a general lack of wear of the type that would be expected if it had been used in this way.[3]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Stoklund, Marie (1996), ""The Ribe cranium inscription and the Scandinavian transition to the younger reduced futhark.", Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik, vol. 45, pp. 199–209, retrieved July 15, 2019
  2. ^ a b Macleod, Mindy; Mees, Bernard (2006), Runic Amulets and Magic Objects, Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press, ISBN 1843832054
  3. ^ a b Schulte, Michael (2006), "The transformation of the older fuþark: Number magic, runographic or linguistic principles?", Arkiv för nordisk filologi, vol. 121, pp. 41–74, retrieved July 15, 2019
  4. ^ "Ribe-hjerneskal", Danske Runeindskrifter
  5. ^ "Odin's Skull: A Macabre Amulet from Denmark", Irish Archaeology, September 17, 2015, retrieved July 15, 2019
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