GP 370 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VII

Context and Discovery
The cemetery of Lillbjärs (or Lilla Bjärs, sometimes just Bjärs, also as Bjers), in Stenkyrka parish is one of the largest and most important grave fields on Gotland (RAÄ Stenkyrka 26:1; Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 118; Thunmark-Nylén 1995–2006 III:2, p. 627). It includes more than 1000 visible stone settings (rösen and other circular or almost circular stone mounds), as well as a ship-shaped stone setting from the Bronze Age (5 x 2.25 m) and a monumental (17 m in diameter) grave mound called ʻÄuglehaugʼ (or ʻUgglehaugʼ), which probably dates to the Migration Period. An old path of about 550 m leads through the entire area in an east west direction. Many of the graves were robbed, only a small number have been excavated, including about a dozen dating to the Viking Period. Remarkable features of the stone mounds are a surrounding dry-stone wall consisting of several layers of limestone slabs, as well as the frequent occurrence of grave orbs (gravklot), erected stone slabs, and picture stones in the immediate context of the (Vendel or Viking Period) graves (ibid. pp. 582–583). Lindqvist published 19 picture stones from this grave field – GP 369–373, 377–381, 388–396, 429–431, 440 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs I–XIX.

“In November 1908, O. V. Wennersten reported in a letter to the National Antiquarian that a local, Emil Svensson in Tune, had discovered three picture stones on the ground belonging to Lillbjärs and taken custody of them. […] On this occasion, the antiquarian Emil Eckhoff visited the find place in the following summer and sent to SHM the stones [Stenkyrka Lillbjärs I–VI] as well as three fragments of another slab, which, however, did not clearly represent a picture stone. He also collected numerous grave orbs […]. In 1911, [Fredrik Nordin] visited the site and was given more information by Svensson about the find place and the circumstances of the discovery of the stones […]. When [Fredrik Nordin] returned in 1913 to conduct excavations, Svensson in the meantime had moved away, and unfortunately, it turned out to be impossible to locate all the find places described by him” (ibid.). Nordin excavated a number of stone settings in 1913 as well as in the following summer and discovered eight more picture stones in situ (Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VII–XIV). Between 1910 and 1912, three more picture stones were reported to Gotlands Museum by Svensson and moved to Visby where they are still kept today (Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XV–XVIII). Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XIX was found later, in 1927.

Most of the picture stones from Stenkyrka church presumably came from the Lillbjärs cemetery as well. Nevertheless, the stock of picture stones from this site can by no means have been recorded completely, and there is good reason to believe that this grave field in the future will provide even more discoveries (cf. Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 118).

The stones VII–IX were discovered by Fredrik Nordin during investigations conducted in 1913 and delivered to Statens Historiska Museum in 1914 (Fornvännen 1915, p. 30; Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 118). The picture stone Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VII was found next to grave no. 2 (ibid. fig. 508). “It lay just outside of the east edge of the carefully built wall of the stone mound [35 cm beneath the ground] and was covered with stones and gravel. The obverse was facing up, and the head pointed south” (ibid. 124). The grave mound (Thunmark-Nylén 1995–2006 IV:2, p. 660) was about 4 m in diameter and featured a kerb, a surrounding wall consisting of 10–12 layers of limestone slabs. An incomplete 20 x 60 m stone cist was incorporated into the southern part of the mound’s wall; it contained burned human bones and Viking Age objects such as two animal head brooches, fish-head pendants, other kinds of pendants, beads, and knives (ibid.) (SHM 15227:2b). A third animal head brooch was found close to the picture stone in the gravel (SHM 15227:2d). Just at the south edge of the mound, an erected limestone slab was located.
GP 369 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs IV
GP 371 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs IX
GP 372 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XIII
GP 373 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XIX
GP 377 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIa
GP 378 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIb
GP 379 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIc
GP 380 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VId
GP 381 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIe
GP 388 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs I
GP 389 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs II
GP 390 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs III
GP 391 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs V
GP 392 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIII
GP 393 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XIV
GP 394 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XV
GP 395 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XVII
GP 396 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XVIII
GP 429 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XVI
GP 430 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XI
GP 431 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XII
GP 440 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs X

Measurements, Material and Condition
“Limestone slab, up to 10 cm thick. The obverse has little humps and certainly is not hewn. The narrow sides are rounded towards the back. The reverse is rough and unworked. The stone’s total height is 100 cm, of which about 75 are accounted for by the part above the root. The head is 37 cm wide, the neck 30 cm, and the base 49 cm” (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 124). The mushroom-shaped monument is completely preserved, including the root. A diagonal crack runs through the surface, dividing it into an upper and a lower half. The stone is much weathered and eroded.

Description of Ornament and Images
The stone is not painted, Lindqvist only reproduces a photo of the unpainted monument and a drawing made by Olof Sörling (1941/42 II, figs. 515, 517). The photo, which was taken by H. Faith-Ell in 1933, does not reveal many remains of carvings; only the inner frame of the border decoration can partly be discerned (cf. ATA 1718:29). A photo from 1925, on which even fewer details are visible, is kept in ATA as well (594:37b). Sörling’s drawing, however, depicts a female figure in the stone’s head panel, with raised hand, as if holding a drinking vessel. Lindqvist (ibid. p. 125) describes the carvings as follows: “The stone is decorated with carved lines and faintly chiseled background fields. Inside of the 8–9 cm wide border, which appeared to have contained a ribbon pattern, are two panels that are separated from each other by a horizontal bar some considerable distance below the neck. The upper panel contains the image of a human, probably a woman, who, according to OS’s [i.e., Olof Sörling’s] drawing, is walking towards the left, but perhaps ought to be envisaged as walking in the opposite direction instead. In the lower panel, there obviously was the image of a ship with a sail with rhombic pattern.” The depiction of a single human figure in the head panel of a picture stone is a remarkable and unparalleled feature. The sailing ship and the ribbon pattern of the framing border observed by Lindqvist, however, are not depicted by Sörling and hard to verify.

Interpretation of the Imagery
No interpretation

Type and Dating
Mushroom-shaped late-type ʻdwarf stoneʼ, which means Lindqvist’s ʻAbschnittʼ C/D or perhaps even E. Those stones, with only few remains of decoration are left, can only be roughly dated to the period between the 8th century and about AD 1100. Lindqvist (1941/42 I, p. 44) assigns Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VII to ʻAbschnittʼ C, which he dates to the time around AD 700. According to recent research, however, those monuments must be dated between the 8th and the 10th century. According to Martin Rundkvist’s (2012, p. 160) typology, the stone’s shape represents Type dwarf4, which occurs in his periods 4 (Late Vendel Period), 5 (Early Viking Period), and 6 (Middle Viking Period). The objects found in the stone cist (see IV), which seems to be incorporated into the mound in a later period, can be dated to the 10th century. Animal-head brooches of the type found close to the picture stone (Type 5a) can be dated to the 10th and 11th centuries (Periods VIII:2–3).

References
Fornvännen 1915, p. 30; Lindqvist 1941/42 II, pp. 118, 124–125, figs. 508, 515, 517; Thunmark-Nylén 1995–2006 IV:2, p. 660; Helmbrecht 2011, p. 485 cat. no. 835.

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