GP 44 Bro kyrka II

Context and Discovery
On the site of the present church in Bro, a Romanesque stone church with a nave and a choir with apse was built in the middle or second half of the 12th century (on the building history: Lundmark 1929; Lagerlöf/Svahnström 1991, pp. 101–104; on the new findings based on excavations and dendrochronological investigations: Widerström 2001a–c; Andrén 2011, pp. 167–169.). Somewhat later, in 1214, the Romanesque tower standing today was added, the beams of which have been dendrochronologically dated. Whether there was a wooden church on the site before the stone building remains unclear; no remains of a predecessor building could be found. During the 13th century, today’s large rectangular choir with sacristy was completed, and around 1300 the new Gothic nave. Consequently, only the tower and a few stones of an animal frieze in the south side of the nave are preserved from the early stone church; the foundation of the Romanesque nave was confirmed during excavations in 2001. Under the nave of the church, in addition to medieval and modern burials, some grave finds from the 11th century were recovered; they belong to the group of kyrkogårdsfynden (ʻchurchyard findsʼ). A dress pin from the 10th century found in the tower could be explained as a single find but also allows the possibility that the church was built on a pre-Christian burial ground. From the 15th century at the latest, Bro church was an important pilgrimage and sacrificial church, which kept a Holy Cross relic (Lundmark 1929, pp. 254–256; Stolt 2007, pp. 12–14; Pernler 2013, p. 92). According to popular tradition, there was a healing spring next to or even inside the church (in the sacristy) as late as the 18th century. This circumstance, as well as a tree trunk walled into the tower in a curious way, the root of which protrudes from the west wall, have given rise to the assumption that the church was built on a pre-Christian cult site. However, there is no compelling evidence for this (Oehrl 2016a).

So far, eleven Type A picture stones and kerbstones have been found in the church of Bro. The picture stones GP 43 Bro kyrka I (first noted by Fredrik Nordin in 1887 and published in Nordin 1903, p. 145, fig. 3) and Bro kyrka II (first noted by E. Lundmark in 1903) are clearly visible, inserted into the walls of a small chamber-like extension (penitent’s cell or inclusorium), which was added around 1300 together with the construction of the nave (Lundmark 1929, pp. 277–279; Lindqvist 1941/42 II, pp. 29–31). The extension is placed in the angle between the west wall of the nave and the old tower. The door of the chamber is on the south side, to the left of the Gothic nave doorway. Immediately to the left of the chamber door, GP 43 Bro kyrka I is set into the outer wall. The face points outwards. The fragment Bro kyrka II is located inside the chamber, in the original outer side of the southern tower wall, which also forms the northern inner side of the chamber (Lundmark 1929, p. 277). Before the chamber was built, the picture stone’s visible surface faced outwards; today it faces the interior of the chamber. It is integrated into the wall at about twice a man’s height. As a result, Bro kyrka II must have been inserted into the tower wall as early as 1214, GP 43 Bro kyrka I into the masonry of the extension only around 1300.
GP 43 Bro kyrka I

Measurements, Material and Condition
The fragment represents most of the upper part of an Early-Type picture stone. “To fit it into the masonry, the stone was trimmed on all four sides and given a rectangular shape. Limestone slab. […] The obverse’s surface generally is unusually well preserved from weathering [and] even. Several convex places on this surface, which the stonemason left untouched, were removed later, possibly in connection with the trimming of the stone for its current function, and this destroyed part of the original patterns. No traces of the original narrow sides remain. The fragment is 110 cm long and 68 to 69 cm wide” (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, pp. 29, 31). There are remains of secondary black paint on the stone, probably originating from Lindqvist’s 1933 photo shoot (ATA run- och bildstenssamling, photo 1648:58; Lindqvist 1941/42 I, fig. 13).

Description of Ornament and Images
The carvings are detailed and well preserved. Lindqvist’s photo of the painted stone from 1933 and Olof Sörling’s drawing from 1917 (ATA run- och bildstenssamling) document them reliably. The rectangular fragment, representing the head of a Type A picture stone slab, preserves most (about the two right thirds) of the horizontal border on the originally slightly convex upper edge of the stone and a large central roundel with whorl decoration and corona (the latter consisting of a row of small circles that are broken on their outsides and touch each other). The decoration of the border can be described as consisting of two horizontally mirrored running spiral patterns. On the right edge, part of the vertical, slightly concave lateral decoration is preserved, which consisted of two parallel grooves. The spandrel on the upper right, which is completely preserved, shows a complete serpentine creature facing left, while its mirrored counterpart on the opposite left side features only the animal’s head. Below the central whorl motif, two more mirrored serpentine creatures facing each other are partly preserved, which surely entwined a pair of smaller roundels, of which only a tiny remnant of the one on the right is still visible.

All four serpentine creatures have wide-open mouths with outstretched tongues that bifurcate or trifurcate at the tip. The two lower snakes, which encircle the smaller roundels, are completely covered, including the head, mouth and tongue, with small protruding lines that look like hair. In fact, the left snake even has a long tuft of hair extending from the head. The mouths of the two upper creatures are also provided with such hairs. There seems to be a triangular chin beard protruding from the lower jaw of the snake’s head on the upper left, which is of particular significance (see VII). No less significant is the observation that the creature in the on the upper right has tiny, insect-like extremities (see VII). All of the above-mentioned body details can easily be verified due to the good preservation of the carvings and are included in Lindqvist’s painting, but are so tiny that they are hardly noticeable in the illustrations. Lindqvist (1941/42 II, p. 31) does not mention them at all in his description and focuses on the execution of the ornaments:

“Decoration in finely-carved lines and in faintly-scratched background fields in the inner corners of the corona of the large roundel and in every other of its crescent-shaped fields. All of these latter fields are divided into triangles by a deeper zigzag line; the parallel chisel marks in the fields of each of these triangles differ in direction from those in the neighbouring triangles. Judging by the insignificant remains, the small roundel on the right appears to have had a spiral pattern. The groove defining the upper inner border is uniformly shallow and 1 cm wide. Of the same style are the central areas of the heads and bodies of the serpents. The diameter of the large roundel is 61 cm, the distance between its centre and the current (trimmed) right edge 44.5 cm.”

Interpretation of the Imagery
The interpretation of the whorl motif with a corona is usually taken as a representation of the sun and interpreted in a cosmological and eschatological sense, and the serpentine creatures that entwine the small rondels are associated with Old Norse literary tradition but also with late Roman traditions. They also seem to belong to a cosmic context; see in detail the article on GP 350 Sanda kyrka IV.

An equivalent to the encircling serpents of Bro kyrka II with hair and legs can be seen on GP 197 Hellvi Ire IV. In addition, there seems to be a connection with the giant snakes from GP 173 Hangvar Austers I and GP 269 Martebo kyrka 2, which apparently are also hairy. Here, too, the small extensions on the snake’s body can hardly be interpreted as tiny centipede-like legs but rather as hairs. A snake encircling a roundel with similar spiky hair is depicted on GP 268 Martebo kyrka I. A serpentine creature with a tuft of hair is depicted on GP 133 Hablingbo Havor II, and a serpentine creature with a shock of hair and body hair on GP 132 Hablingbo Havor I. Regarding these snake-like hybrid animals, see Oehrl 2019a, p. 109, figs. 87e(1–7).

The observation that the snake creatures on the Type A picture stones sometimes appear to be hairy and occasionally even have extremities is of particular importance for a possible interpretation. All in all, it becomes clear that we are dealing less with snakes than with hybrid creatures that combine snake and mammal characteristics. Comparable beasts are frequently encountered in Roman art, for example in the form of sea monsters (ketoi). As a matter of fact, the giant hairy worm on GP 269 Martebo kyrka 2 features a fish tail, clearly indicating a sea monster. A particularly clear indication of the Mediterranean origin of these creatures is provided, however, by the bearded snake in the spandrel at the top left of Bro kyrka II.

The bearded (and crested) snake represents a well-known motif that appears in a variety of different contexts and media throughout the Classical world, used in Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman iconography and literary tradition. Aelian, in his 3rd-century AD work De Natura Animalium (11.26), refers to bearded snakes and states that the beard indicates the masculinity of the snake. In research, the beard is usually interpreted as an anthropomorphic feature, the bearded serpent as a hybrid between man and animal and in particular as a serpent-shaped deity (Harrison 1903, pp. 328; Gourmelen 2012). The ancient motif of the bearded serpent is also adapted on the Migration Period gold bracteates, which belong to the same time horizon as the Type A picture stones. On the amulet IK 115 Lundeby-C the bearded serpent faces the central (emperor’s or god’s) head, thus taking the place of the bird, which is usually seen in this position on the C-bracteates. Karl Hauck (Hauck 1977b, p. 505–506; Oehrl 2010b) considers these serpents to be companion animals of the god Wodan/Óðinn, appearing alongside his ravens, and corresponding to the serpents of Asclepius. Like Asclepius, in the iconography of the gold bracteates Wodan/Óðinn is also glorified as a god of healing, according to Hauck (1977a–b; 1980c).
GP 350 Sanda kyrka IV
GP 197 Hellvi Ire IV
GP 173 Hangvar Austers I
GP 269 Martebo kyrka 2
GP 268 Martebo kyrka I
GP 133 Hablingbo Havor II
GP 132 Hablingbo Havor I

Type and Dating
The fragment represents a part of an early-type picture stone, i.e., Type A according to Lindqvist’s typology, dating to between AD 400 and 600. Lindqvist assigns the stone to his Brotypus, named after GP 43 Bro kyrka I, which is characterized by a large central and two smaller roundels, simple grooves featuring the lateral border decoration, and a more elaborate pattern at the upper edge of the tall monument (1941/42 I, p. 26–27; cf. Hauck 1983a, pp. 541–542).
GP 43 Bro kyrka I

References
Lindqvist 1941/42 I, pp. 26–27; II, pp. 29–31, figs. 13, 15; Hauck 1983a, pp. 536, 542, fig. 21; Guber 2011, p. 113 cat. no. 7; Oehrl 2016a, pp. 251–252; 2019a, pp. 24, 109, 123, 152, 155, figs. 87e6, 142b.

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