Before the production of written Latin texts (and later also of works in the vernacular), runes are the only attested form of writing in Denmark. Thus, for much of the medieval period, runic inscriptions represent the only written documentation of life in the area that is both contemporary and local. Looijenga (2003) catalogs and exhaustively discusses the earliest of these inscriptions, that is, those dated to between 150 and 700 CE. Many are very brief and difficult to interpret. One set of related 7th-century inscriptions found in Blekinge, Sweden, recording rituals and possibly marking boundaries of some apparently related people named Hathuwolafz and Hariwolafz, are especially interesting because in them, as Looijenga writes, "we suddenly find literature in runes, which leads to the conclusion that at some time in runic history people started to use runes for other purposes than merely inscribing names on special objects" (186-7). More elaborate "rune-stones" such as the famous Jelling Monument of Harald Bluetooth, commemorating his domination of "all Denmark" and Christianization of the Danes, are one outgrowth of this development. The Forsa Rune Ring (from Sweden) is an example of an early Viking-Age legal text recorded with runes. The Karlevi Runestone (also from Sweden) includes the earliest inscribed example of a skaldic verse stanza, and an early reference to Denmark.
[M. H.]