When Roman administration and legions gradually withdrew from the outer provinces after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, they created a power void filled by various groups. The dynamic Migration Period that followed is usually considered to have ended when the Germanic Lombards allegedly left Central Europe and were replaced by Slavs. Whether or how Slavic and Germanic tribes interacted, however, is currently disputed. Here we report the first direct archaeological find in support of a contact: a bone fragment dated to ~600 AD incised with Germanic runes but found in Lány, Czechia, a contemporaneous settlement associated with Slavs. We documented and authenticated this artifact using a combined approach of use-wear analysis with SEM microscopy, direct radiocarbon dating, and ancient DNA analysis of the animal bone, thereby setting a new standard for the investigation of runic bones. The find is the first older fuþark inscription found in any non-Germanic context and suggests that the presumed ancestors of modern Slavic speakers encountered writing much earlier than previously thought.

当西罗马帝国陷落后，罗马政府和军团逐渐从外围省份撤出时，他们创造了一个由各个集团填补的权力空缺。通常认为随后的动态移民时期已经结束，据称日耳曼伦巴德人离开中欧并被斯拉夫人所取代。目前，斯拉夫部落和日耳曼部落是否相互作用或如何相互作用。在这里，我们报告了第一个直接的考古发现来支持一次接触：一个约有公元600年的骨头碎片，上面刻有日耳曼符文，但在捷克共和国的兰尼发现，这是斯拉夫人的同时居所。我们使用结合使用磨损分析和SEM显微镜，直接放射性碳测年和动物骨骼的古代DNA分析的方法，记录并鉴定了该假象，从而为研究符文骨骼树立了新的标准。发现是第一个老在任何非德语环境中都可以找到fuþark铭文，这表明现代斯拉夫语系的假定祖先遇到书写的时间比以前想象的要早得多。