GP 429 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XVI

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 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 has 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 (large spherical stones) (gravklot), erected stone slabs, and picture stones in the immediate context of the (Vendel or Viking Period) graves (ibid. pp. 582–583). Lindqvist published nineteen 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 (gravklot) […]. In 1911, [Fredrik Nordin] visited the site and was given more information by Svensson about the finding 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 several stone settings in 1913 as well as during 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 (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 XV–XVIII were discovered by the worker Emil Svensson and delivered to Gotlands Museum by Fredrik Nordin in 1911 or 1913 respectively. About these stones, according to Lindqvist (1941/42 II, p. 121), “[...] only little of importance could be found out”. The picture stone fragment Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XVI was found about 1910 at the farm Hallbersåker, where it served as a stairstep (ibid. p. 127).
GP 369 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs IV
GP 370 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VII
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
The slab represents the almost rectangular left half of an early-type picture stone, including the root and most of the body, while the uppermost part is missing. The monument appears to have been split lengthwise. “Limestone slab, 10 cm thick. The obverse is even on its entire surface. The left narrow side is slightly concave longitudinally and hewn at right angles towards the broad side for up to 26 cm, measured from the upper broken edge. Between said narrow side and the broad side is a vague chamfer. The right vertical edge probably is secondary. At the time when the stone was used as a stairstep, this side was facing outwards. Abrasion by footsteps mainly affected the stone’s root end. The fragment’s height is 80 cm, and its width is 31–34 cm” (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 127).

Description of Ornament and Images
Lindqvist provides a photo of the painted stone (1941/42 II, fig. 524; cf. ATA B3:80 [Faith-Ell 1937]) and describes the traced carvings as follows (ibid. p. 125): “The stone is decorated with two lines running along the chamfer and a small roundel with crescent fields, every second of which is sunken. The outer contours of the roundel in two (?) places present three short spikes standing close together and curving out slightly to the right, probably in order to merge, by means of an s-shaped curl, into another roundel that apparently once existed next to the surviving roundel on a part of the stone that is now lost.” A photo of the unpainted stone taken by H. Faith-Ell in 1933, on which most of the described features are easily discernible, is kept in ATA (Run- och bildstenssamling 1751:19b), as well as a drawing made by Olof Sörling in 1917 which also depicts all the relevant details.

Interpretation of the Imagery
No interpretation

Type and Dating
Early-type picture stone, ʻAbschnittʼ A according to Lindqvist, dating to between circa AD 400 and 600. Lindqvist suggests that a second small disk motif had been placed to the right of the preserved whorl (see VI), and a bigger roundel above this pair of disks on the lost top part of the monument which therefore has to be regarded as a large Type A stone corresponding to the ʻBrotypusʼ (1941/42 I, 26–28). However, Karl Hauck (1983a, p. 544) regards the stone as a dwarf stone with the preserved whorl being the only and central motif, and he therefore assigns it to the ʻHavor I-Typusʼ (IV:2).

References
Lindqvist 1941/42 II, pp. 121, 127, figs. 525; Hauck 1983a, p. 544, fn. 235; Guber 2011, p. 148 cat. no. 78; Oehrl 2019a, p. 41.

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