GP 74 Endre skog

Context and Discovery
The small stone slab was found in 1851 by the workman Olof Toftén in a gravel pit situated in the forest between Endre and Visby (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 41; Thunmark-Nylén 1995–2006 IV:1, pp. 145–146; Rundkvist 2012, p. 152 cat. no. 4). In the same gravel pit he had collected numerous grave goods which were reported and transferred to Statens Historiska Museum in Stockholm. Toftén collected the items at two different occasions during the same year (SHM 1667 and 1687). The stone and the other objects were located close to the surface, along with human bones. Among the finds were two animal head brooches, two bronze penannular brooches, a box brooch, a bronze bow brooch, a pair of bronze dress pins, bronze belt mounts, bronze bangles, a gilded bronze bracteate, a fossil (Astylospongia), beads, knives, a comb, a sword, and an axe, as well as pottery sherds. Most of the material can be dated to the Viking Age, and some items to the Late Vendel Period (Thunmark-Nylén 1995–2006 IV:1, pp. 145–146). Consequently, the picture stone appears to have been re-used in a Viking Age grave construction.

Measurements, Material and Condition
The limestone slab is 10 cm thick, and its obverse is quite even. The narrow sides are hewn at right angles to the obverse with a levelled chamfer of 1 cm width. The stone’s reverse is rough and unworked. The preserved slab represents circa two thirds of a small picture stone – its head and most of the lower image field. The lower left corner, however, is broken off and lost. The height of the fragment is 50 cm, its width between the upper edges 37 cm. The missing part is now reconstructed with cement. The distinctly carved decoration is very well preserved. Lindqvist provides photos of the painted and the unpainted stone, as well as a drawing by Olof Sörling (1941/42 I, figs. 50, 52; II, fig. 341; cf. ATA 1718:31b, 2223:27–28, 2440:42).

Description of Ornament and Images
Lindqvist (1941/42 II, p. 42) describes the carvings as follows: “Decorated with contour lines that have a V-shaped cross section and are slightly more than 2 mm deep, the background field has been carved to a depth of about 2 mm. Within a border with a debased three-strand interlace pattern, at the very bottom, a running stag or elk with large antlers, above this, a serpent with its body intertwined in itself, also a watercraft with rounded, raised stems and a ʻcabinʼ, which by now is rather indistinct, and finally, at the very top, a single-strand interlace pattern.” The animal’s antler does not look like the shovel-shaped antler of an elk but more like a stylised branched antler of a red deer stag.

Interpretation of the Imagery
There is one more Type B ʻdwarf stoneʼ depicting a deer and a snake – on GP 551 Väskinde Butter a red deer stag can be seen who is sucking in and probably eating a serpent. The late-type picture stone GP 98 Garda kyrka II depicts two facing moose, which have an figure-eight-shaped loop – probably a snake – between their mouths, apparently eating it as well. More images of deer, albeit without snakes, can be seen on the Type B stone GP 215 Kräklingbo Smiss IV and the late type ʻcist stonesʼ GP 195 Hellvi Ire 6 (a red deer stag attacked by two hunters), and GP 28 Bara Nederbjärs II (a red deer with long, backwards-turned antlers).

The deer who is fighting and even eating a serpent represents a widespread motif in ancient and medieval Christian literary tradition and iconography. For the interpretation of the deer-and-serpent motif in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, in particular, on Type B picture stones but also in Viking Period iconography see GP 551 Väskinde Butter. It is important to mention that the depiction of a ʻknottedʼ serpent, with its body intertwined with itself, follows conventions of ancient Christian iconography, indicating that the animal (representing evil) is vanished and bound (Meier 1998, p. 388; Oehrl 2019a, pp. 252–253).

The non-zoomorphic interlace pattern above the ship may be understandable in a similar manner. Central interlace and knot motifs on Type B picture stones such as GP 249 Lärbro Norder-Ire I, GP 193 Hellvi Ire III and Endre skog may represent more than just decoration and could be regarded as apotropaic images. The conception of knot, net and interlace patterns as being magical protective devices against all kinds of harm – fettering, capturing and caging the evil in their impenetrable web – is widespread and well documented in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and has also been discussed regarding Late Iron Age Scandinavia, namely in case of the animal styles (e.g. Scheftelowitz 1912; Weigert 1938; Wessel 1971; Zischka 1977; Kitzinger 1993; Graf 2010, 29–35; Wamers 2008, 52–54; Oehrl 2011a, pp. 265–288; Oehrl 2019a, p. 123). That serpent-like animals, intertwined and knotted together, represent fettered and defanged demons, is easy to imagine.
GP 551 Väskinde Butter
GP 98 Garda kyrka II
GP 215 Kräklingbo Smiss IV
GP0195
GP 28 Bara Nederbjärs II
GP 249 Lärbro Norder-Ire I
GP 193 Hellvi Ire III

Type and Dating
Middle-type ʻdwarf stoneʼ, which means ʻAbschnittʼ B according to Lindqvist, dating to between AD 500 and 700. The monument belongs to the group of Type B stones with convex head with pronounced corners protruding horizontally. Lindqvist (1941/42 I, p. 37) assigns it to his Sandegårdagruppe, named after GP 340 Sanda Sandegårda I, which is characterized by the shape described above and rich decoration. The interlace border on Endre skog is the same as on GP 340 Sanda Sandegårda I and GP 83 Fole kyrka. Lindqvist compares the interlace motif on the lower image field of Endre skog and other middle-type picture stones with the decoration of Vendel Period brooches in order to support his dating of ʻAbschnittʼ B (ibid. p. 116). The convex and almost semicircular shape of the ship represents, according to Lindqvist (ibid. p. 64–65), a variant of the Larsarvetypus, named after the ship depiction on GP 77 Eskelhem Larsarve I, or perhaps even a late imitation of the Brotypus (including the ʻcabinʼ), named after the Type A stone GP 43 Bro kyrka I. Varenius (1992, appendix 2) assigns the ship depiction without mast or sail to his group 1 (rigglösa skepp), which he dates to the period between the 5th and the 6th century. In Rundkvist’s typology (2012, p. 159), the stone belongs to group dwarf2, dating to the early Vendel Period.
GP 340 Sanda Sandegårda I
GP 83 Fole kyrka
GP 77 Eskelhem Larsarve I
GP 43 Bro kyrka I

References
Lindqvist 1941/42 I, pp. 37, 74, 89, 116, fig. 50, 52; II, pp. 41–42, fig. 341; Leppäaho 1948, p. 52; Oxenstierna 1954, p. 330, fig. 7; Varenius 1992, p. 58, fig. 12; Heizmann/Steuer 1999, p. 601; Lamm/Nylén 2003, pp. 42, 44; Heizmann 2011, p. 564 fn. 152; Oehrl 2011a, p. 76; Guber 2011, pp. 77, 57, 115 cat. no. 11, figs. 18, 37; Pesch 2015a, pp. 375–576; Oehrl 2019a, pp. 166–168, pl. 167d.

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