Runic Spindle Whorl Recently Found in Orkney

This article gives an account of a rune-inscribed bone spindle whorl which was found by a member of the public in Orkney in January 2017. The inscription will presumably be designated as OR 24. The circumstances of the find are briefly discussed and the artefact described and depicted. Thereafter follows a transliteration and commentary on the reading and an interpretation of the text, which seems to be a futhark inscription with some notable oddities. Along with the spindle whorl bearing OR 24, the finder also handed in a quartzite pebble from the same site, which is decorated with a painted rune-like mark. The article discusses whether the painted mark is intended as a rune, and whether the artefact is Norse at all. The conclusion is that the mark is most probably not intended to be runic and that the artefact is likely to be Pictish rather than Norse.https://doi.org/10.33063/diva-401055