The runic inscription of the new zoomorphic amulet of Scandinavian jewelry traditions of the early Middle Ages, originating from the Middle Dniester of Republic of Moldova

Abstract

The present study focuses on the decipherment and interpretation of the unique runic inscription carved on the zoomorphic pendant of Scandinavian jewelry traditions. The new Scandinavian zoomorphic pendant of 10th century, originating from the region of Middle Dniester, Republic of Moldova. The graffito and amulet have no direct analogies. In the research paper the runic inscription is interpreted as the protection magical spell. The runic inscription is based on the ideographic runes of the Elder and the Younger Futhark. The runic inscription of a similar nature with this combination of graphemes has not yet been known in runology, and is first encountered. The inscription made in Scandinavian runes is the first discovery of a runic inscription in Republic of Moldova and the same time is the first written evidence of the presence of the Vikings in the Dniester-Prut Region. The research methodology is based on a comparison of the runic formula of the zoomorphic amulet inscription with the known analogies of the runic formulas inscribed on various artifacts of ancient German material culture. As much as the inscription contains archaic runes of the Elder Futhark and runes of the Younger Futhark, the study used the approach of identifying the semantic load of the runes used as ideograms with the meaning of their own names. In the present research paper, the retrospective method is used in the most famous examples of Scandinavian runes of the Elder and Younger Futhark as ideograms in the described runic inscriptions of the amulet and incantation character. The comparative method is also applied between compare runes as ideograms of the present inscription and the same runes as ideograms in the other cases of use in the similar or analogical context. Comparative and retrospective methods are also applied in the search for analogies of the use of runes in the meaning of own names in mixed inscriptions made by means of a combinations of older and younger runes. The study widely involved a significant amount of scientific work in the field of methodology of reading and interpreting runic inscriptions of famous runologists of 20th and 21st centuries. In scientific work were used ancient German literary sources, such as: Old Norse, Old Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon runic poems, Old Icelandic sagas about the gods and heroes of the Elder Edda and materials from written sources of the 11th–13th centuries were examined in detail and compared in the context of “magic runes” and mythopoeic concepts in mithological considerations. The archaeological context of this research includes both a comprehensive description of the most unique amulet, and the general layer of the most significant finds of the Viking Age and traces of the Scandinavian cultural presence in the Slavic and Old Russian world of the early Middle Ages in the area of the Dniester-Prut interfluve of present-day territory of Moldova.