NORSE MAGIC · LESSON 7 OF 7 · 18 MIN
The Younger Futhark and the Runestones
How twenty-four runes became sixteen, the long-branch and short-twig rows, what the runestones of the Viking Age actually say, the cipher of Rök, and the dotted runes that carried writing into the Middle Ages.
The runes most people learn are the twenty-four of the Elder Futhark. The runes most people see, on the stones of Sweden and Denmark and in every museum case, are a different row: the Younger Futhark of the Viking Age, sixteen runes doing the work of twenty-four. This lesson is about that row and the stones it was cut on.