Caistor-by-Norwich astragalus
A roe-deer ankle bone carrying one word, from a cremation urn in Norfolk. It is the oldest runic object found in England, and its runes are Elder Futhark, not the English futhorc.
At a glance
- Alphabet
- Elder Futhark
- Date
- 5th century
- Found at
- Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk, England
- Signature
- None given here. English, Frisian and Continental material is catalogued outside the Rundata tradition altogether; elsewhere a signature is left off only where we could not verify one. Either way the object is cited by name and findspot.
The text
Transliteration in the conventional runological form. Translations on this site are our own and kept literal.
raïhan
roe deer
Discovery
Recovered in 1937 from a cremation urn in the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Caistor St Edmund, just outside Norwich. The urn held a set of astragali (sheep and roe-deer ankle bones of the kind used as gaming pieces), and only this one carries runes.
Significance
It dates the arrival of runic writing in England, and it does so in the older alphabet: the word is cut in Elder Futhark, without any of the Anglo-Frisian innovations that turn a futhark into a futhorc. It is also one of the very few places outside a complete futhark row where the ï-rune is securely attested; otherwise that rune is known almost only from the rows themselves.
Common misconceptions
Claims about this object that circulate widely and do not hold up.
The oldest runic find in England and the oldest English runic inscription are different things, and this object is only the former. Its runes are the inherited 24, so what it dates is when runic writing reached England, not when the futhorc existed. The earliest inscription that can be argued to use the Anglo-Frisian innovations is the Undley bracteate.
The cemetery has produced material with Scandinavian connections, and the astragalus has accordingly been read as an import carried over in the earliest phase of the settlement rather than as something inscribed in Norfolk. It remains a suggestion, and one word cannot settle it.
Runes attested here (1)
Every dictionary entry that cites this object, with the reason it gives.
- Īhwaz / EihwazElder
raïhan, "roe deer", cut on a roe-deer ankle bone: one of the very few places this rune is securely attested inside a word rather than in a futhark row.
Sources
Full references on the sources page.