Latest news with #NordicRunes
Yahoo
an hour ago
- General
- Yahoo
Mysterious carving found in northern Ontario wilderness
Seven years ago, a tree fell over in the northern Ontario bush and exposed an archeological mystery that researchers are still trying to understand. Found carved into the bedrock, not far from the town of Wawa, were 255 symbols arranged in a square about 1.2 metres by 1.5 metres, and next to it, there is carved a picture of a boat with 16 people on it, as well as 14 Xs. Photos of the discovery made their way to Ryan Primrose, an archeologist based in New Liskeard and the director of the Ontario Centre for Archeological Education. "Well it's certainly among the least expected finds that I think I've encountered during my career. It's absolutely fascinating," he said. Primrose has been working on the carvings since 2018 and is now talking about it publicly for the first time. "We didn't want to release information publicly until we had done as much as we could at the time to understand exactly what it was," he said. Primrose quickly realized the 255 characters were Nordic runes, part of an alphabet known as Futhark that was used in Scandinavia in centuries past. He was worried some would jump to conclusions that these were carved by Vikings more than a millennium ago. That's why he sought the help of Henrik Williams, an emeritus professor at Uppsala University in Sweden and a leading expert in runology. He came to analyze the well-worn carvings on a drizzly cold October day several years ago. "I was under a tarpaulin for three hours with a flash light, looking at the runes and the others were sitting outside freezing," Williams said. "And I came out with this reading." He realized that the runic writing spelled out the words of The Lord's Prayer in Swedish and traced it back to a 1611 runic version of the prayer, which was republished in the 19th century. "It must have taken days and days of work. They are really deeply carved into the rock. Someone must have spent a couple of weeks carving this thing," Williams said. "And this must have been a Swede. Were there any Swedes at all here?" Primrose said subsequent research has shown that the Hudson's Bay Company did hire Swedes in the 1800s to work at trading posts in the Canadian wilderness, including the Michipicoten post, not too far from where the carving was found. He says his going theory, based on how worn the carving is, is that it was likely made in the early to mid-1800s. Williams admits to being "a little disappointed" that it's only about 200 years old, but says "the mystery around it doesn't decrease just because it's slightly younger than we hoped it was." "Anybody has to start wondering 'Why on Earth did they carve it here and why did they choose that text?' And there's no answers," he said. "But mysteries, they do tend to attract people and this one will certainly do that." Primrose speculates this carving could have been a spot for religious worship, perhaps a gathering place for Swedes who worked at the trading post, or the solitary work of one person. He says the carving was found under several inches of soil and it was likely deliberately buried, but no other artifacts were found in the area which makes it "difficult to tell what's going on." Working with the property owner, Primrose has applied for a lease hold on the land and is hoping to get funding to develop the site into a historical tourist attraction, including a structure over the carving to protect it from further wear. He hopes to have those plans formalized by the end of the summer and then give the public a chance to ponder the mysterious carving in person.
Daily Mail
11 hours ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Mysterious carving with biblical message linked to Jesus' crucifixion found in North America
Archaeologists have deciphered 255 ancient characters that were etched into a stone more than 200 years ago. The runic inscription, carved into bedrock, was first uncovered in 2018 after a fallen tree exposed the writing, which is arranged in a square formation. Ryan Primrose, an archaeologist and the director of the Ontario Center for Archaeological Education, has now revealed that the symbols spell out the Lord's Prayer in Swedish. The prayer, also known as the 'Our Father,' is a central Christian prayer attributed to Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke that was written sometime after his crucifixion. Primrose, who has been analyzing the artifact since its discovery, determined that the characters were Nordic runes, part of Futhark, a writing system used in Scandinavia in past centuries. He and his team were surprised to find this ancient script in the Canadian wilderness, but later learned that the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) hired Swedes in the 1800s to work at trading posts, suggesting that this may be when the carvings were made. Due to the lack of artifacts around the site, Primrose believed the site was used as a place of worship. The carved slab was found near the town of Wawa, located about 155 miles from the nearest US border crossing in Michigan. In the 1800s, the HBCa British fur trading enterprise, was rapidly expanding its operations across North America, from the Pacific Northwest to the Canadian Arctic. To keep these trading posts staffed, HBC frequently recruited workers from European countries, including Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The Scandinavian workers were mostly stationed at trading posts in Canada's interior or Pacific Northwest. The characters were written inside a square, also carved in the rock, measuring three feet by four feet. Also included was an image of a boat with 16 people drawing around it, which may have reflected the Swedes who traveled to Canada hundreds of years ago. Primrose said that the slab appeared to have been intentionally buried. 'There were ruins covered by about six inches of soil,' he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). The wear of the stone suggests it could be as old as the 1600s, but experts only have the evidence of Swedish speaking individuals being in the region some 200 years ago. Henrik Williams, an emeritus professor at Uppsala University in Sweden, was sent images of the symbols who was disappointed that it was not an ancient artifact. 'Any runic inscription is rare, he told CBC. 'Someone put all this effort into this particular text and you wonder why. The mystery does not decrease just because of its age.' Primrose said he did not want to release the information publicly until he was completely sure about the translation of the symbols. 'This is certainly among the least expected finds I have encountered in my career,' he said. The Lord's Prayer appears in two places in the New Testament. The first is in Matthew 6:9-13 during the Sermon on the Mount and again in Luke 11:2-4 when a disciple asks Jesus how to pray. The prayer is a short, powerful summary of Christian beliefs and expresses key themes, honoring God's name, asking for God's will to be done, requesting daily bread, forgiving and being forgiven, and avoiding temptation. For the first few centuries of Christian practice, the Lord's Prayer was taught to converts and frequently recited in communal worship and private devotion. It became a central part of Christian liturgy across traditions, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant, and was often called 'the perfect prayer.' It was then translated into countless languages and incorporated into church services and daily prayers around the world. The prayer etched in the stone in Canada was the Swedish version, which featured the Norse linguistic heritage. While the Bible was translated to Swedish in 1541, scholars chose to transcribe the Lord's Prayer into runes as a way to celebrate or connect with their Scandinavian past.
CBC
14 hours ago
- General
- CBC
Mysterious carving found in northern Ontario wilderness
Seven years ago, a tree fell over in the northern Ontario bush and exposed an archeological mystery that researchers are still trying to understand. Found carved into the bedrock, not far from the town of Wawa, were 255 symbols arranged in a square about 1.2 metres by 1.5 metres and next to it, there is carved a picture of a boat with 16 people on it, as well as 14 Xs. Photos of the discovery made their way to Ryan Primrose, an archeologist based in New Liskeard and the director of the Ontario Centre for Archeological Education. "Well it's certainly among the least expected finds that I think I've encountered during my career. It's absolutely fascinating," he said. Primrose has been working on the carvings since 2018 and is now talking about it publicly for the first time. "We didn't want to release information publicly until we had done as much as we could at the time to understand exactly what it was," he said. Primrose quickly realized that the 255 characters were Nordic runes, part of a language known as Futhark that was used in Scandinavia in centuries past. He was worried that some would jump to conclusions that these were carved by Vikings more than a millennium ago. That's why he sought the help of Henrik Williams, an emeritus professor at Uppsala University in Sweden and a leading expert in runology. He came to analyze the well-worn carvings on a drizzly cold October day several years ago. "I was under a tarpaulin for three hours with a flash light, looking at the runes and the others were sitting outside freezing," Williams said. "And I came out with this reading." He realized that the runic writing spelled out the words of The Lord's Prayer in Swedish and traced it back to a 1611 runic version of the prayer, that was republished in the 19th Century. "It must have taken days and days of work. They are really deeply carved into the rock. Someone must have spent a couple of weeks carving this thing," Williams said. "And this must have been a Swede. Were there any Swedes at all here?" Primrose says subsequent research has shown that the Hudson's Bay Company did hire Swedes in the 1800s to work at trading posts in the Canadian wilderness, including the Michipicoten post, not too far from where the carving was found. He says his going theory, based on how worn the carving is, is that it was likely made in the early to mid-1800s. Williams admits to being "a little disappointed" that it's only about 200 years old, but says "the mystery around it doesn't decrease just because it's slightly younger than we hoped it was." "Anybody has to start wondering 'Why on Earth did they carve it here and why did they choose that text?' And there's no answers," he said. "But mysteries, they do tend to attract people and this one will certainly do that." Primrose speculates that this carving could have been a spot for religious worship, perhaps a gathering place for Swedes who worked at the trading post, or the solitary work of one person. He says the carving was found under several inches of soil and it was likely deliberately buried, but no other artifacts were found in the area which makes it "difficult to tell what's going on." Working with the property owner, Primrose has applied for a lease hold on the land and is hoping to get funding to develop the site into a historical tourist attraction, including a structure over the carving to protect it from further wear. He hopes to have those plans formalized by the end of the summer and then give the public a chance to ponder the mysterious carving in person.
