A runestone is a large stone carved with runic inscriptions — usually in the early Germanic alphabet known as the futhark.

Two rare artifacts inscribed with ancient letters, or runes, could be the key to a mysterious era of Viking history when they suddenly abandoned their old alphabet and transitioned to a new one.

Archaeologists in Ontario have decoded a 200-year-old rock carving in Canadian wilderness, revealing the Lord’s Prayer in Swedish runes. Likely made by a Hudson’s Bay Company worker in the 1800s, the ...

Runes Found on Seventh-Century Cow Bone Could Change Slavic History The Germanic writing suggests Slavs used an alphabet more than 200 years earlier than previously believed ...

It contains the first three letters of the runic alphabet – “f,” “u” and “th” – on one of its sides, according to the museum. The stone features "unexpected" inscriptions.

The inscription on the ring contains almost 250 runes, or letters in the alphabet used by the Vikings and other Germanic peoples.

The exact letters of the runic alphabet have countless variations, and it took some time before everyone could agree on how to read them (the final call was from left to right).