Documentation of Runic Inscriptions
Runrön Runologiska bidrag utgivna av Institutionen för nordiska språk vid Uppsala universitet 24 Knirk, James E., 2021: Documentation of Runic Inscriptions. In: Reading Runes. Proceedings of the Eighth International Symposium on Runes and Runic Inscriptions, Nyköping, Sweden, 2–6 September 2014. Ed. by MacLeod, Mindy, Marco Bianchi and Henrik Williams. Uppsala. (Runrön 24.) Pp. 15–42. DOI: 10.33063/diva-438865 © 2021 James E. Knirk (CC BY) Plenary lecture JAMES E. KNIRK Documentation of Runic Inscriptions Abstract Documentation and examination are the essence of runological fieldwork. As discussed here, the recording aspect concerns the inscriptions, particularly the runes, themselves. The documenta- tion of runic carvings is a multifaceted activity. It ranges from the production of reading proto- cols during the examination of inscriptions to the utilization of various techniques for registering what is found on the runic object: (a) visually, i.e. with drawings or photographs, (b) physically, e.g. with squeezes or casts, and (c) scientifically, such as by employment of microscopes, 3D scan- ning, or most recently Reflectance Transformation Imaging. The main requirement for all such documentation is objectivity. Keywords: Documentation, runic inscriptions, reading protocols, drawings, photography, squeezes, casts, stereo microscope, 3D scanning, Reflectance Transformation Imaging Introduction Discovery, documentation, and decipherment are the three broad aspects of the theme “Reading Runic Inscriptions”. The second of these, documentation – together with examination – comprises the core of runological fieldwork. Documentation also applies to the discovery of runic inscriptions. Their uncovering is recorded in find-histories, in most cases, at least nowadays, by archaeologists. The accounts provide information primarily about the runic object itself, and thus contain important material for, among other things, an evaluation of the context of the inscription and an appraisal of its state of completeness and preservation.
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