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There have been many legends about Vikings going on expeditions to Islamic countries thousands of years ago, and according to a 9th century ring found in a Swedish grave, these stories might have been true.
The ancient Viking ring is made of silver, features a purple stone and is inscribed with the words “to Allah” or “for Allah”.
The piece of ancient jewelry was discovered when archeologists dug the grave fields located at the Viking age center in Birka, 15 miles of Stockholm.
The ring was found in a rectangular coffin along with other jewelry like brooches and some pieces of clothing.
The ring was recovered from a skeleton, of which the researchers believe to have been a woman buried around 850 A.D.
The experts from the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm cataloged the ancient Viking ring as a signet ring with an amethyst stone with the inscription of the word “Allah” written in Arabic Kufic.
A team of researchers led by scientist Sebastian Wärmländer from Stockholm University wanted to study the ring and see what it revealed.
Wärmländer, a biophysicist, said that this is actually the only ring bearing an Arabic inscription ever to be discovered on Scandinavian land.
According to Wärmländer, there are other rings that are crafted in an Arabic style, but none have any inscriptions on them.
The scientists scanned the ancient Viking ring using electron microscopy and found that the way the museum described it was not 100% accurate.
Wärmländer and his team of researchers wrote that, according to their analysis, the ring is 94.5% high-quality non-gilded silver, set with a colored glass stone and inscribed with an old version of the word “Allah”.
Although the museum previously believed the stone was an amethyst, the researchers said that the colored glass was not exactly a low-value material.
The scientists explained that this stone was actually an exotic material in Scandinavia during the Viking Age.
After a closer inspection, the experts found that the colored glass was actually engraved with early Kufic characters.
The inscription was interpreted as ““il-la-lah,” which means “for/to Allah”.
The new study was published in the journal Scanning.
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