At what early date the art of writing runes became known in the North it is impossible to tell. From the Roman coins found in the Nydam, Vimose, Thorsberg, &c. finds we know that the people knew the art at the period to which the coins belong, but this is far from proving to us that they had just learned the art of writing; people do not learn how to write first on objects of gold and silver; but, at any rate, we can fix a date as early as the second or third century of the Christian era. It must be admitted as surprising, if the Northern peoples were so advanced as to manufacture the beautiful weapons and artistic articles found in the graves and elsewhere, they had not also instituted a coinage of their own. That the knowledge of runes did not come to the North before that of working iron is almost certain, as no runes have been found there on the objects belonging to the bronze age. A fact we must bear in mind is, that in the earlier graves of the iron age, many of which are of greater antiquity than the bog finds,[122] the objects were so thoroughly destroyed on the pyre, that all traces of runic character upon them would disappear. [Illustration: Fig. 283.—Diadem of gold, with earlier runes inside; found in oblong mound of sandy mould with remains of a stone coffin.—Jutland. ] [Illustration: Fig. 284.—Silver fibula, with earlier runes,[123] richly gilt, the zigzag and runes filled with blue niello; ⅔ real size; earlier iron age.—Etelhem, Gotland. ] Besides the runes found inscribed upon jewels, weapons, coins,[124] &c., there are others engraved on rocks and memorial stones, which are of very great antiquity, some of which seem to be earlier than the runes of the bog finds. There are two alphabets; the earlier one numbered twenty-four, the later sixteen letters. [Illustration: Earlier Runes from the Vadstena bracteate. ] [Illustration: Later Runes. ] The Vadstena alphabet is divided into three sections, each containing eight letters or characters. The earlier runes were written from the right to the left; the later runic inscriptions are read from the left to the right. The later runes differ considerably from the earlier ones, from the gradual changes that took place, some falling out of use, till only sixteen existed in later times. Their signification also changed. Were it not for the evidence of the finds having runic inscriptions of the fuller runic alphabet, it would have seemed more probable that the less developed one was the earlier; but in the face of the most indisputable proofs of the antiquity of the fuller alphabet, such assertions cannot be made. The only conclusion to which this leads us therefore is, that the runic alphabet must in the course of time have become simplified. There are runic inscriptions which contain both earlier and later runes, but the former at last gradually disappeared.