GP 87 Follingbo Hallfreda

Context and Discovery
Two fragments, found on different occasions but fitting together, are the only remains of this runic picture stone. The first fragment, the largest one, was found in 1920 while digging a ditch in a mire at Vidanger (von Friesen 1934), 1 km N of Hallfrede. The first mention of the stone appears in a notice about Hallfrede in Gotlands Allehanda 13.11.1924 by O. V. Wennersten. He wrote that Mrs. von Coswandt managed to save and safekeep the last remains of an ever-so-interesting picture stone with runes, which somehow has ended up on the farm, and that it was previously unknown to research (GR II, p. 244, G 220). According to an inventory of Follingbo parish by Ture Carlsson in 1928, a runestone fragment was found while plowing in a field 300 m NNW to the farm, whereupon it was brought home and placed in the manor (Carlsson 1928). Most probably, the inventory refers to the large fragment. About the other fragment, the smaller one, von Friesen informs that it was found while digging for a canal in 1931 (von Friesen 1934, p.47). Both fragments appear together in a photo by Sune Lindqvist in 1931. The little information that there is was originally provided by Mrs. Cecilia von Coswandt, who kept the stones and in 1933 gave them to Gotlands Fornsal (GR II, p. 244, G 220). In a letter in 1924, National Antiquarian Ture J. Arne asked for a photo and as much information as possible, since Sune Lindqvist was preparing a publication of the Gotland picture stones at that time. However, this stone was not included in Gotlands Bildsteine (Lindqvist 1941/42). In response to this letter, Cecilia von Coswant answered in January 1925 that the stone would be photographed in due course but that she thought this may be difficult, because the carving is damaged. In another letter, it appears that Cecilia von Coswandt found it strange that the stone has been found where hundreds of years earlier there was lake or mire, and that it should have been lying on the bottom of the lake (ATA).

Two other runestone fragments are known from the same parish. GP 88 Follingbo kyrka (G 218) differs from GP 87, first of all, by being adorned with pitted terminals on the branches of the runes, a feature characteristic of several Gotland runestones but lacking on GP 87, and secondly, in the smaller size of the runes (GR II, p. 242, G 218). The other fragment, GP 587 Follingbo kyrka (G 219†), has been lost and very little is known about it except that it was hastily drawn by J. H. Wallman in 1833 when he visited the church in Follingbo. This fragment might be identical with GP 88 (G 218) (GR II, p. 243, G 219). No picture stone of any of the older types A–D are presently known in this parish.
LKÅ
GP 88 Follingbo kyrka
GP 587 Follingbo kyrka

Measurements, Material and Condition
Height 0,65 m, width 0,52 m, thickness 0,14 m. The height of the runes is 7 cm. Limestone. The two fragments fit together (GR II, p. 244, G 220). The largest fragment is 0,37 x 0,50 m; the smallest is 0,29 x 0,45 m. The first, largest fragment was photographed by A. Edle in Coswandts garden in 1925. It can be seen that the carving surface was damaged. In 1931, the two fragments were joined and photographed together by Mårten Stenberger in Gotlands Fornsal (Run- och bildstenssamlingen ATA). The edges of the smallest fragment had secondarily been cut into a right angle. It also has a shallow hole for a rod or a post. The two fragments together render a rectangular shape, but judging by the ornament this was not the original shape of the runic picture stone. The original shape of the stone cannot be discerned today.
LKÅ

Description of Ornament and Images
The carving is well done and clearly visible. There are two runic bands (most probably of a runic animal) and thin, interlaced ornament lines of an additional serpent. The two parallel ribbons with runes indicate a long inscription, and that runic ornament fills the carving surface, as on GP 25 Atlingbo (G 200). Von Friesen indicated that the ornament as well as the shape and the proportions of the runes are similar to those of the runestones from Sjonhem (GP 355 and GP 356, i.e. G 134 and G 135 in Gotlands runinskrifter), and he suggested that they had been made by the same carver (Friesen 1934, p. 47). On the other hand, Svärdström remarked that the ornament pattern and the rune forms are similar to those on a runestone fragment from GP 648 Mästerby kyrka (G 188), and they might even have been cut by the same carver (GR II, p. 245).
LKÅ
GP 25 Atlingbo kyrka (I)
GP 355 Sjonhem kyrka I
GP 356 Sjonhem kyrka II
GP0648

Interpretation of the Imagery
No interpretation

Runic Context and Comments
The inscription mentions that a man, whose name might have been Uddgair, died in Holmgarðr (Holmgård), i.e., Norvgorod. Holmgård is mentioned in two other runic inscriptions; the contemporary U 687 in Tiundaland, and Sö 171 in Rönö, dated to the first half of the 11th century. GP 87 has been quoted as an important source to the early connections between Gotland and Novgorod, where it is known from later sources that the Gotlanders had a trade station (Sw. faktori) (GR II, p. 245; Svahnström 1960, p. 35; Friesen 1934, p. 49). Holmgarðr is situated in the territory Garðar, along the eastern route to Byzantium. Thus, this stone is one of the c. 170 known traveler-stones mentioning destinations and activities abroad (see GP 355 Sjonhem kyrka). Zilmer finds 11 potential references to Holmgarðr or Garðar in the runic material, most in the area of Lake Mälaren, one from Gotland and one from Öland (Zilmer 2005, p. 324).
LKÅ
GP 355 Sjonhem kyrka I

Type and Dating
Type E. The intricate ornament with the thin additional serpent, laid in interlace and with an up-rolled tail classifies the ornament as Pr 4 in Gräslund’s style-chronological system, c. 1070–1100 AD (Gräslund 2006).
LKÅ

References
von Friesen 1934; GR II, G 220; Salberger 1979; Zilmer 2005, pp. 162–163, 378, Zilmer 2006, p. 265.

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