Parish Find Location 
Gammelgarn

Find Location 
An agricultural field belonging to the farm ʻRommundsʼ in Gammelgarn parish (Rommunds 1:13; RAÄ Gammelgarn 123:2). The place is located circa 0.50 km east-northeast of Gammelgarn church.

Find Context Classification 
Agricultural Field

Coordinate Find Location (lat) 
6369007

Coordinate Find Location (long) 
729059

Present Location Classification 
Gotlands Museum Magasin Visborg

Coordinate Present Location (lat) 
6390259

Coordinate Present Location (long) 
695514

Material 
Limestone

Height 
15

Width 
39

Thickness 
7

Lindqvist Type 
B (ca. 500-700)

Lindqvist Shape 
Dwarf stone

Runic Inscription or not 
No

Context and Discovery 
In 1969, two small picture stone fragments (a larger one and a quite small piece) were found during agricultural work on a field at Rommunds gård, owned by the farmer Kjell Klintström. The finds were reported to Gotlands Museum 1969-11-24, and one day after that, the spot was inspected archaeologically, whereby a third fragment of the picture stone (approximately as large as the larger one of the two previously found stones) could be detected, only 0.20 m beneath the surface. During the inspection of the find spot, a pit filled with stones was observed as well and excavated shortly afterwards. The structure turned out to be a small stone circle with a capstone on top of it. Inside the pit, there were no grave goods or other finds than the remains of a small oval wooden box or casket. The capstone was located at a depth of about 0.15 m beneath the ground surface. All information about the find spot and its investigation are from a report by Waldemar Falck (Visby) to RAÄ (dnr. 413-2636-1998). In 1986, two stone cists containing burned human and animal bones as well as some grave goods dating to the Migration Period were excavated at the farm; as early as 1937, Mårten Stenberger investigated a well-equipped warrior’s grave from the same period, not far from the two cists, apparently belonging to the same grave field (Gerdin 1986a).

Measurements, Material and Condition 
The two larger pieces are about 0.20 m wide and between 0.10 and 0.15 m high. Both fragments belong together and form the middle (or lower) part of a dwarf stone, the original lateral edges and thus the original width of which (0.39 m) are completely preserved. However, the lower and the upper edge are broken. The third piece is only about 0.10 x 0.05 m, with a single short line carved on it, and it cannot be assigned to a certain part of the monument. The stone’s thickness is about 0.07 m. The limestone slab is not very weathered; its decoration is well preserved and carved with remarkably deep and distinct lines.

Description of Ornament and Images 
The two larger fragments form a section of the stone’s middle or lower part, preserving its full width, including the ornamented borders on both sides and a rhombic pattern, which fills the field in between. The border pattern is quite coarse, a simple step pattern, which frequently occurs on Type B stones and could be regarded as a simplified braid pattern (Lindqvist calls it “vereinfachtes Schnurmuster”). Apparently, Lamm regards the rhombic pattern as the sail of a lost ship (“rutat segel”; Lamm/Nylén 2003, p. 204 cat. no. 441; cf. Guber 2011, pp. 66–67), which, however, is not very likely as vessels with large rhombus-patterned sails do not occur on Type B stones otherwise.

Interpretation of the Imagery 
No interpretation

Type and Dating 
The stone must have been quite small, less than 1.00 m high. The decoration and the size of the dwarf stone indicate a Type B picture stone, dating to between AD 500 and 700. The most striking parallel, regarding both the border decoration and the rhombic pattern in between, as well as the dimensions of the monument, is the Type B stone GP 354 Sjonhem Lilla Sojvide. It depicts a rhombic pattern which covers the entire lower field of the stone’s surface and a simplified vessel on its head, the corners of which are protruding at right angles to the main body. The stone from Lilla Sojvide belongs to Lindqvist’s so-called Sojvide group. Further good examples with similar ornamentation, shape, and size (but with a serpent and an interlace motif respectively, instead of a vessel) are GP 340 Sanda Sandegårda I and GP 193 Hellvi Ire III. The Type B dwarf stone GP 273 Norrlanda Bjärs depicts a rhombus-patterned lower field and a border with a (more complex) step pattern as well, with a simplified sailing ship in the head field; however, the monument features a different shape (almost semi-circular head with corners pointing downwards).
GP 354 Sjonhem Lilla Sojvide
GP 340 Sanda Sandegårda I
GP 193 Hellvi Ire III
GP 273 Norrlanda Bjärs

References 
Lamm/Nylén 2003, p. 204 cat. no. 441; Guber 2011, p. 118 cat. no. 17.

 
Fyndplats
Bildstenen, i två delar, påträffades 1969 i en åker tillhörande gården Rommunds. Fyndplatsen är belägen cirka 500 m ostnordost om Gammelgarns kyrka.

Nuvarande lokalisering
Gotlands museums magasin, Visborgsslätt.

Beskrivning
Delar av en dvärgsten, med kantdekoration och ett rombiskt mönster (segel?) som fyller resten av stenen.

Datering
Dateringen kan inte anges närmare, men bildstenen tillhör perioden 500-700.

Tolkning
Ingen tolkning

AA

Title
GP 92 Gammelgarn Rommunds

Fornsök ID 
L1977:3133

RAÄ ID 
Gammelgarn 123:1

Jan Peder Lamm ID 
441

ATA
K-Samsök