PRAGUE, Czech Republic — An inscribed cow bone dating back to the seventh century proves that Germanic runes were the oldest script ever used by the ancient Slavs, Czech scientists said Thursday.
Up to now, it was believed that the oldest Slavic alphabet was Glagolitic, invented by Byzantine monk St Cyril in the ninth century.
Cyril and his brother St Methodius came to former Great Moravia, covering today’s Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia, and parts of Austria, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, and the Balkans, on a mission in 863.
But the broken bovine rib found in the southern Czech Republic in 2017 and examined by an international team of Czech, Austrian, Swiss and A…
Keep on reading: Ancient bone sheds light on Slav alphabet history