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.

Editor's Note: This article was provided by our partner, ScienceNordic. The original is here. Why did Vikings sometimes use codes when they wrote in runes? Were the messages secret, or did they have ...

Archaeologists in Denmark have uncovered two objects with rare Viking runic inscriptions dating to around 800 CE, during excavations in Ribe – the country's oldest town. The new discoveries shed light ...

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

A 900-year-old rune code that has puzzled experts has been cracked by a Norwegian runologist -- to discover the Viking version of playful text messages. Tumblr A 900-year-old rune code used by Vikings ...

Before candy hearts, there were Valentine etchings. Case in point: a romantic message carved into a piece of bone more than 900 years ago in Sweden. “Kiss me,” it says. The markings had stumped ...