GP 384 Stenkyrka kyrka V

Context and Discovery
There is not much information about the origin of the stone. According to Lindqvist (1941/42 II, p. 116), it was discovered by Fredrik Nordin, incorporated into the churchyard wall, precisely south of the nave’s gable.

The earliest church at this place was probably a wooden building that was replaced by a stone church in the first half of the twelfth century. The foundations of the first stone church have been discovered beneath the floor of the current church, built during the thirteenth century. The tower with its portal was erected between 1280 and 1310 (on the building’s architectural history, see Roosval 1911, pp. 84–86; 1914, pp. 1–52, esp. 21–24; Lagerlöf/Svahnström 1991, pp. 239–243). In his book “Gotlands Bildsteine”, Sune Lindqvist (1941/42 II, pp. 115–118) lists nine picture stones from Stenkyrka church. By contrast, the list put together by Jan Peder Lamm in 2003 contains no fewer than 40 new discoveries (Lamm/Nylén 2003, nos. 238–276, 425, 426). The unusually large number of stones found not only in the church, but in the entire parish, is an indicator of the political and religious position that Stenkyrka probably held even before the first church was built (see Roosval 1914, p. 5). Many of the new finds from the church were discovered during a large-scale restoration, which was carried out in 1954/55 according to plans by the architect Rolf Bergh.

Measurements, Material and Condition
“Limestone slab, 8 cm thick. The obverse is even, the narrow sides are rounded towards the back. The reverse is rough and unworked. The head is 43 cm wide and 24 cm high. The surviving height of the stone is 44 cm, the width of the neck is 33 cm” (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 116). The fragment represents the semi-circular head of a small picture stone as well as insignificant part of its neck. There are smaller damages at the convex edge, the left corner is broken off, and the right corner badly damaged as well.

Description of Ornament and Images
Lindqvist (1941/42 II, pp. 116–117) describes the remaining carvings as follows: “The decoration is executed with shallow lines and partially with chiselled background fields. The imagery and the border’s pattern cannot be identified anymore with any certainty. There seemed to have been a horizontal border at the level of the neck.” Lindqvist only reproduces a sketch-like drawing of the stone, depicting nothing more than its outline (ibid. fig. 493). A photo of the painted stone kept in ATA (Run- och bildstenssamling 1751:22a [H. Faith Ell 1933]), however, shows the inner and outer framing lines of the border, as well as some single lines and fields of the bas-relief inside the image field.

Interpretation of the Imagery
No interpretation

Type and Dating
Lindqvist regards the fragment as the head part of a middle-Type ʻdwarf stoneʼ (ʻAbschnittʼ B), dating between AD 500 and 700, however, without assigning it to any subgroup and without giving reasons for his opinion (1941/42 I, p. 38). It could also represent a mushroom-shaped late-type dwarf stone, belonging to Lindqvist’s ʻAbschnittʼ C–E, dating between the 8th century and around AD 1100.

References
Lindqvist 1941/42 II, pp. 116–117, fig. 493.

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