The Byala Inscription

At the beginning of the 20th century, young Bulgarian archaeology brought new discoveries in the field of Runiform script. It thus enriched the collection of Runiform inscriptions found at Pliska. This time findings came from the ramparts near the Black Sea shore, built by the Early Bulgarian state.

Newly found inscriptions were two. The first was incised on a column found at the rampart near Varna. It consists of three graphemes well known from the materials from Pliska (

). The second inscription not only brought to light two new characters (

and

), but its length was sensational: five graphemes. The discovery came from the rampart near the small town of Byala. The inscription is engraved carefully on a stone block of yellow limestone. At the time of discovery, there was still some red plaster in the grooves of the inscription, which indicates that the inscription initially appeared red on the yellow background of limestone. Skorpil’s opinion was undoubtful; the newly discovered inscription was written in an unknown script used in Early Medieval Bulgaria.

The record of the five graphemes' long inscription will eventually be broken, but the inscription from Byala will remain one of the emblematic monuments of Bulgarian Runiform script.

The column found at Varna

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