Dear Ann, Congratulations on inspiring such beautiful historic work, as well as modern creative interpretations.
As a techno-historian, I would like to make an observation on a salient visual feature of the Runic script. Do you know why Runes have no horizontal strokes, only diagonal and vertical ones? (If you mentioned it in your post, I apologize for missing it!)
The main *surviving* medium on which we find Runic inscriptions are runestones and metal objects, such as jewelry and weapons. But the major medium for *writing* and *developing* the script was slats of soft wood like pine or birch, engraved with a dagger, *not* pen and ink.
These woods have a very assertive grain; cutting *across* the grain at right angles or diagonals is relatively easy. But if one’s going dagger cuts *along* the grain, one could easily split your slat; one must take a special care with all of these. I am sure that splitting one’s writing tablet happened so danged often, that they soon learned to avoid horizontal strokes entirely.
(The scripts of North India —Sanskrit, Devanagari, Bengali, Tibetan, etc.—, inked on paper with a broad nib, developed a very assertive horizontal “headline“ (with their nibs cut and held in such a way to create a *negative* 45° pen-angle!). But scribes in the South wrote on the leaves of the talipot palm, and, like the Vikings, preferred to scratch into the surface rather than write in ink. (After scribing on these leaves, they darkened the letterforms with a kind of scrimshaw technique: smearing the page with soot, then wiping off the surface, leaving the scratched lettering blackened.
Like pine, talipot leaves have a strong horizontal grain, which would easily split along that insistent grain. I believe that is why Southern Indian scribes twisted those “headlines” into curls or knobs, in, say, Singhalese or Malayalam, to avoid splitting their leaves…).
I am always charmed by simple explanations for stuff like that. It satisfies my need for Occam’s Razor.
I think the Germanic folks must have kept a few little strips of wood on hand and a knife in their pocket in order to send messages.
The environment always affects the shape of language and the structure of the writing. And whatever tool and surface is readily available for marks is what you get, whether it’s the cursive forms from originally writing with a finger in sand, the wedge shaped impressions of reed on damp clay, or the angular forms from incising in bone, stone or wood in the northern areas.
Thanks, Ann. Nice work! I noticed Deborah lives in Anchorage. I was born (1948) and raised there, left around 25 years old. The town/city has changed considerably since I was there. Your friend might be interested in a post I submitted on my substack page about the 1964 Earthquake…
Dear Ann, Congratulations on inspiring such beautiful historic work, as well as modern creative interpretations.
As a techno-historian, I would like to make an observation on a salient visual feature of the Runic script. Do you know why Runes have no horizontal strokes, only diagonal and vertical ones? (If you mentioned it in your post, I apologize for missing it!)
The main *surviving* medium on which we find Runic inscriptions are runestones and metal objects, such as jewelry and weapons. But the major medium for *writing* and *developing* the script was slats of soft wood like pine or birch, engraved with a dagger, *not* pen and ink.
These woods have a very assertive grain; cutting *across* the grain at right angles or diagonals is relatively easy. But if one’s going dagger cuts *along* the grain, one could easily split your slat; one must take a special care with all of these. I am sure that splitting one’s writing tablet happened so danged often, that they soon learned to avoid horizontal strokes entirely.
(The scripts of North India —Sanskrit, Devanagari, Bengali, Tibetan, etc.—, inked on paper with a broad nib, developed a very assertive horizontal “headline“ (with their nibs cut and held in such a way to create a *negative* 45° pen-angle!). But scribes in the South wrote on the leaves of the talipot palm, and, like the Vikings, preferred to scratch into the surface rather than write in ink. (After scribing on these leaves, they darkened the letterforms with a kind of scrimshaw technique: smearing the page with soot, then wiping off the surface, leaving the scratched lettering blackened.
Like pine, talipot leaves have a strong horizontal grain, which would easily split along that insistent grain. I believe that is why Southern Indian scribes twisted those “headlines” into curls or knobs, in, say, Singhalese or Malayalam, to avoid splitting their leaves…).
I am always charmed by simple explanations for stuff like that. It satisfies my need for Occam’s Razor.
I love the whys and wherefores too, Mark.
I think the Germanic folks must have kept a few little strips of wood on hand and a knife in their pocket in order to send messages.
The environment always affects the shape of language and the structure of the writing. And whatever tool and surface is readily available for marks is what you get, whether it’s the cursive forms from originally writing with a finger in sand, the wedge shaped impressions of reed on damp clay, or the angular forms from incising in bone, stone or wood in the northern areas.
These are great and the leather one is quite impressive. Bravo!
That’s a fired ceramic. She’s a professional clay sculptor. dlhansen.com
Thanks, Ann. Nice work! I noticed Deborah lives in Anchorage. I was born (1948) and raised there, left around 25 years old. The town/city has changed considerably since I was there. Your friend might be interested in a post I submitted on my substack page about the 1964 Earthquake…
I'll point her in your direction! I'll point myself there also. :)
I think that’s the ceramic one! Deborah Hansen. She actually fired it. And is on her way to making another.
Amazing student work!
Thank you LeeAnn!