THE NORWEGIAN RUNES The oldest runes discovered in Norway date from 400 AD. They were based upon the 24 - rune Elder Futhark of Germanic origin. Two of the runes in the Elder Futhark, Pertra and Eoh, have never been found in any Norwegian rune text. From 550 AD to 700 AD there was a transition period between the older 24-rune Futhark and the newer 16-rune Futharks. By the end of this period, the 24-rune Futhark went completely out of use and the 16-rune Futharks had prevailed. Then, about 900 AD, the Shorttwiggs-runes were introduced from Sweden. Shortly thereafter, from 1000 AD, Futharks with more than 16 runes became more prevalent, as these were more consistent with the Latin alphabet. These types of runes were used in Norway up to 1800 AD.