GP 480 Stånga kyrka I

Context and Discovery
The stone was found in 1863 during repair work in the choir wall at the north window (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 112). Pehr Arvid Säve reports that it was not damaged when it was taken out from the wall (Säve 1864, p. 215). Otto von Friesen examined the stone in 1922 (von Friesen 1922, p. 76). The stone is kept in the choir, behind the altar.

Stånga church is one of the churches on Gotland with so-called churchyard finds, Christian graves containing grave goods and/or dress items (Westholm 1926, p. 104; Thunmark-Nylén 1983, pp. 157f.). In the churchyard, finds have been made of objects and coins from the 11th century and the beginning of the 12th century, including, e.g., animal head brooches, a silver cross and a knife handle with runestone-style ornament. An investigation of four graves in 1903–1904 revealed that they were oriented in the east-west direction and that the bodies were interred in a wooden cist with roof-shaped lids. Several of the objects were found in these graves (Westholm 1926). It is reported that there was a spring in the churchyard, possibly considered as a holy well in prehistoric times. A well was mentioned by P. A. Säve in 1851, but it has not been located (Lagerlöf/Stolt 1968, p. 90f.). A wooden church was probably built in the 11th century (Lagerlöf/Stolt 1968, p. 122). The picture stone fragment may have been built into the choir in the beginning of the 13th century, as the Romanesque choir was not rebuilt until the 19th century (Lagerlöf/Stolt 1968, p. 123; BeBR).

The only other picture stone known from the parish is GP 481 Stånga kyrka II (G 87), a small fragment of a picture stone with a runic inscription.
LKÅ
GP 481 Stånga kyrka II

Measurements, Material and Condition
Fragment, 0.58 m wide and 0.37 m high, 0.11 cm thick. It obviously represents the upper part of the body of a picture stone, just below the narrowing of the neck. Sandstone slab. Both broad sides are carefully hewn flat and polished. The surviving section of one of the narrow sides also is hewn flat at right angles towards the broad sides (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 112).

The stone is carved in deep relief on both sides. Traces of pigment have been reported, primarily on face A, with the colours brownish red, light red and blue grey (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 58, p. 112). In contrast to Sune Lindqvist, who could not find any traces of pigments on Face B (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 112f.), Hugo Pipping mentions faint traces of reddish pigment at two spots of the background field. According to Pipping, this face of the stone (B) was smeared with plaster, and it was weathered (Pipping 1901, p. 66f.; GR I, p. 131). Gustaf Hallström includes the stone in his list of runestones with traces of original colour (Hallström 1931, p. 268f.). While lying in the choir, it was used as a supportive rack for a work of art, which however recently has been lifted away from the stone.
LKÅ

Description of Ornament and Images
Lindqvist describes the ornament as follows: “Face A (with traces of colouring). The framing border with its runic inscription and the loops forming the pattern in the field are separated from the background field – which is sunk 5–6 mm deep and completely smooth – by a chamfer. The pattern includes (close to the left border) a large animal’s head with a damaged jaw and a ribbon-shaped body. Two loops of this ribbon first coil around the front leg and the damaged foot of a four-legged animal, the neck and body of which originally continued upwards beyond the edge of the upper break, and then there are forms of three curiously interlinked loops (closer to the fragment’s second edge) around the animal’s hind leg (or possibly the legs of a second animal), among other things. Finally, the loop terminates in a large spiral in the lower right corner of the fragment. The previously mentioned hind leg ends in a foot, two toes of which survive in their entirety, while the heel is damaged. The body belonging to the hind leg can be traced all the way across the stone and, after forming a loop around the neck of the first-mentioned (same?) animal, probably turns back to clearly disappear in an ascending curve under the upper part of the hind leg. Here, it is intersected both by the animal’s tail curving forwards and upwards, and by another, narrow loop that possibly belongs to the animal’s lappet. The remnants of colouring are brown-reddish, light-reddish, and grey-blue; nonetheless it looks as if that everything originally had been painted in one and the same colour. The red hue is in fact under the other colours, and this probably is not the result of several coatings having been applied on top of each other, but due to the fact that the original colour was able to retain its clear tint only under the surface, which was changed secondarily, so that now it appears brownish-red or grey-blue” (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 112).

“Face B. This face looks as if it was hewn in the same manner as the one discussed above, although it now appears severely damaged and altered by footsteps. Unlike on Face A, there are several holes here that clearly were drilled. The decoration consists of a severely symmetrical interlace without surviving remains of animal’s heads or feet. The sudden constriction of the picture stone’s profile between head and body can be observed here very clearly in the surviving remains of the framing border on both sides” (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 112f.).

Erik Nylén discussed the two symmetrically arranged serpents in relation to saddle fittings made of wood, a style he thought of as a Gotlandic runestone style (Nylén 1972). Similar ornament can be seen on our stone GP 480 Stånga kyrka I as well as on GP 71 Ekeby, GP 131 Hablingbo kyrka and the Ardre stones GP 17, GP 18 and GP 20 (Ardre kyrka V–VII). Florian Westphal regarded this style as an independent Gotlandic picture stone and runestone style (Westphal 2004, p. 422).
LKÅ
GP 71 Ekeby kyrka
GP 131 Hablingbo kyrka (I)
GP 17 Ardre kyrka V
GP 18 Ardre kyrka VI
GP 20 Ardre kyrka VII

Interpretation of the Imagery
Elias Wessén indicated that the ornament on side B has a strong resemblance to the runestones from Sjonhem (GP 355–356) and that they ought to be of the same date (GR I, p. 131). The deeply carved relief ornament on both sides also gives the stone a resemblance to GP 71 Ekeby kyrka. In addition, the symmetrically arranged serpents on face B also brings the stone from Hangvar to mind, GP 174 Hangvar kyrka I.

The stylistic dating to the second half of the 11th century makes the stone contemporary with the graves found on the churchyard, but it is not known whether the stone was placed in connection to a grave, or if it was situated inside the church. The churchyard finds and the monument tradition are important source materials in relation to the Christianization of Gotland, showing that burials in churchyard can appear parallel with burials in the traditional grave fields adjacent to the farms (see discussion in Ljung 2020).
LKÅ
GP 355 Sjonhem kyrka I
GP 356 Sjonhem kyrka II
GP 71 Ekeby kyrka
GP 174 Hangvar kyrka I

Runic Context and Comments
The inscription on face A can be the remains of two names in the nominative, where the second name might have begun with Bot- (GR I, p. 131). The inscription on face B has not been interpreted.
LKÅ

Type and Dating
Type E. Pr4 1070–1100 (Gräslund 2006, p. 126).

References
P. A. Säve 1864, p. 215; Pipping 1901, p. 66f., fig. VIII; von Friesen 1922, p. 76; Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 111–112, Fig. 147–148; Lagerlöf/Stolt 1968, p. 159; GR I, G 86.

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