Handle

This object was found at the Royal Opera House site and may be a handle. It is made from a long bone of a sheep-sized animal. A runic inscription has been engraved on it, parallel to the long axis of the bone. In addition there is engraved decoration. The way that the inscription and the decoration have been placed indicates that the inscription was intended from the start, rather than added later. The inscription reads from right to left and is of an Anglo-Saxon type. The meaning is unclear but may represent the name OEthilward, who was perhaps the owner of the object. It dates from the early 700s and is one of the few runic inscriptions known from that period in London.