| The inscription in Kleines Schulerloch cave | |
| Type: | Runic inscription |
| Discovered Place: | Kleines Schulerloch cave, Altmühl valley, Kelheim, Lower Bavaria, Bavaria, Germany |
| Discovered Date: | 1937 |
| Classification: | Probable falsification |
| Culture: | Viking Age |
The Kleines Schulerloch inscription is the runic inscription of debated authenticity discovered in the Kleines Schulerloch cave that was found in 1937, Altmühl valley (near Essing, Bavaria) was not noticed until the 1950s.[1] It reads
birg : leub : selbrade,
probably meaning "Birg, beloved of Selbrad", next to a drawing of an ibex or stag scratched into the stone from perhaps the same time, but whose the authenticity is also debated.[1] The inscription was generally considered to be fake shortly after its discovery.
The discovery of a parallel inscription in grave 172 of the "Unterer Stollen" cemetery in Bad Krozingen in 2001, reading
boba : leub | agirike
revived discussions regarding the authenticity of the Kleines Schulerloch inscription. Still, in 2003, Looijenga concluded that the inscription is an obvious falsification.[2] In 2012, Findell, accepting the Bad Krozingen inscription as genuine, noted that most scholars still objected to its authenticity and considered the Kleines Schulerloch inscription to be at least "suspect".[3]