Many identified runestones come centuries later in history, during the Viking Age (around the 9th to 11th centuries). The sandstone pieces were primarily dispersed in three graves, designated Hole 1, ...

of all known rune stones. Along with the details found within Norwegian stave churches, rune stones provide some of the best evidence we have of the slow transition from belief in the old Norse ...

They told stories of all the great battles they had fought ... to decide who could inherit land and wealth. Image caption, Viking runes were scratched on to the walls at the Maeshowe neolithic ...

The oldest runes were in use until about 700AD. How these letters originated and evolved has long been a mystery. "The development of runic writing and the practice of inscribing runes on stone ...