NFI4105 – Hands-on Runology – Documenting, Editing, and Curating Runic Inscriptions

Schedule, syllabus and examination date

Course content

In this course, the student will have a unique opportunity to learn how to study runic inscriptions hands-on in close connection to ongoing runological projects at the Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, and at the Museum of Cultural History.

The course focuses on three fundamental aspects of practical runological work: documentation, editing, and preservation of runic inscriptions. Through the practical study of runic inscriptions, the course will thus cover:

  • various techniques for reading and documenting inscriptions on different materials
  • conventions of editing runic inscriptions, both in traditional paper-based corpus editions and digitally using annotation systems such as XML/TEI
  • how cultural institutions like museums and archives catalogue, preserve, and popularize knowledge about runic inscriptions and the artifacts that bear them.

The course will include readings in Scandinavian, and a good reading proficiency in a modern Scandinavian language is therefore a precondition for the completion of the course.

Learning outcome

After the completion of this course, the students will be able to:

  • account for various methods for documenting runic inscriptions, and to apply a selection of these methods to document the reading and interpretation of inscriptions, taking their material, linguistic, and historical context into account
  • account for existing editorial standards, both in paper and digital editions, and be able to edit runic inscriptions according to a selection of these standards
  • account for how museums, archives and other cultural institutions administrate, and to communicate scientific knowledge about runic inscriptions to the general public

Admission to the course

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for?in Studentweb.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about?admission requirements and procedures.

The number of students that can be admitted to this course is limited. If the places available are exceeded, students will be ranked on the basis of their previous grades in runology and Old Norse language.

Formal prerequisite knowledge

The students must have completed an introduction to runology like NFI1100 – Runology - General Introduction?or NFI4100 – Runology - General Introduction or equivalent, with C as a minimum grade.

Students that have taken runology and/or