GP 145 Halla Broa VI

Context and Discovery
Lindqvist published 20 picture stones under the name of the farmstead Broa (today Broe), all of which appear to originate from the unusually large Iron Age grave field, which is situated in the south-western part of Halla parish, close to the border to Roma parish, and which had been well known through the ages, first mentioned by Strelow in 1633. The farm belongs to the community of Högbro. Since time immemorial, two important country roads, the road Halla–Viklau and the road Roma-Sjonhem (ʻVisbyvägenʼ) intersect here, where a rise consisting of gravel (the ʻhigh bridgeʼ = Högbro) clearly emerges out of the terrain, leading across the great bog system Romamyr-Stormyr. Both roads in turn are intersected by the railway line Roma-Etelhem. The railway intersects both roads a few hundred metres to the west and southwest of the crossing, respectively. During the 19th century, the Högbro elevation was severely diminished and large parts of the Broa cemetery were destroyed by clearing and cultivation, gravel mining, house building, railway and road construction, as well as deliberate grave robbing. Many finds from Broa were sold on the antiquities market during this time, with many acquired by ATA. Unfortunately, the large and highly important cemetery of Högbro-Broa is still not published adequately; its present documentation is incomplete and confusing. The best overview about the history and state of research is given by Lena Thunmark-Nylén (1995–2006 III:2, pp. 621–623; IV:1, pp. 324–347).

The first professional and large-scale excavation took place in 1899, conducted by Hans Hansson, who unearthed 14 graves in a small area next to the intersection, just south of the road Roma–Sjonhem and east of the road to Viklau. One further large-scale excavation was carried out in 1981–82 by Ann-Marie Pettersson, who investigated 120 graves (9 inhumation, 102 cremation, 9 without bones) in a small area (circa 700 m2) about 50 m north of the road Roma–Sjonhem and about 40 m east of the road to Halla (Broe 1:71; see the report compiled by Daniel Langhammer from 2012, RAGU dnr 13/82, 789/84). Apart from that, several minor and poorly documented investigations took place, in the beginning of the 20th century and, in particular, during the 1930s and the early 1940s.

Two larger areas are registered by ATA, a burial ground north of the road Roma-Sjonhem (ATA Halla 46:1) and a burial ground south of the road (ATA Halla 48:1). The first one (46:1) covers an area of circa 120 x 110 m (E–W) and contains 66 circular stone settings and 120 investigated flat graves. The other one (48:1) is about 300 x 120 m (N-S) and features 202 circular stone settings. Several other registered monuments, about 15 stone settings, 2 stone kists and 1 gravklot (large spherical stone) seem to belong to the Broa grave field as well (ATA Halla 1:1, 1:2, 74:1, 78:1, 79:1; Roma 31:1, 31:2, 32:1). Thunmark-Nylén (1995–2006 III:2, p. 622) estimates the number of investigated graves alone at about 300 to 400. The actual size and extent of the cemetery, however, remains uncertain.

The oldest investigated burials can be dated to the Roman Iron Age although some unexcavated stone settings are typical for the Pre-Roman Iron Age. Most of the graves, however, date to the Migration, Vendel and Viking Periods. First and foremost, the grave field is well-known and frequently cited for some particularly important finds such as the decorated horse harness from the equestrian burial discovered in 1899, after which the Broa Style is named (Salin 1922; Thunmark-Nylén 1992; 1995–2006 IV:1, pp. 325–326), the lyre bridge of amber from the same grave (Reimers 1980), and many remarkable finds of glass vessels from all periods (Nylén 1969). Furthermore, there are several elite warriors’s graves containing fragments of ring-swords as well as a Vendel helmet (Nerman 1969–1975 I:1, p. 29; II, fig. 601).

Regarding the picture stones, the exact location of the find spots is difficult to determine in most cases, and their contexts and relation to the known parts of the cemetery remain unclear. Most of them originate from the railway line and the area west of it (called ʻBrandenʼ) and the rest from the area east of the road to Halla, between the road and the border to Roma (ʻKlosterängenʼ). Lindqvist (1941/42 II, fig. 378) provides a map, which was primarily composed at the National Heritage Board (RAÄ) based on the information kept in ATA. It identifies the location of the find places of the stones as carefully as they could be determined at the time of Lindqvist.

According to information given in a report about new acquisitions of SHM during the year 1906, the picture stones Halla Broa V–VI were found “[…] in a grave, from which two or three years ago finds (ring brooches) had been sent (cf. Inv. 11939, 11987, or 12087)” (Fornvännen 1906, pp. 209–210; cf. Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 61). The mentioned numbers represent Viking Period grave inventories, among them ring brooches dating to the 10th and 11th centuries (Thunmark-Nylén 1995–2006 IV:1, p. 316–318; Rundkvist 2012, p. 152 no. 12). Lindqvist (1941/42 I, p. 40) states that the picture stones were found as building material in a Viking Age stone mound. According to a letter by Wennersten from 1905-03-07 (ATA Go Halla sn, Broa vol. III), the stones were found some years before by the landowner Vilhelm Olsson on his property, probably on a field called ʻStrandbergsåkerʼ. Two gravklot were found on this occasion as well. The find spot, where former landowners had already found many graves, is situated about 50 m east of the road to Halla and about 100 m north of the road to Sjonhem (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, fig. 378), i.e., close to the area RAÄ Halla 46:1. However, Wennersten was not able to reconstruct the original arrangement and the relation of both stone slabs to each other. Surprisingly, Wennersten’s letter from 1905 does not mention that the stones were incorporated into a mound (Stenqvist 2014, p. 12).

According to Lindqvist (1941/42 I, pp. 40, 47–48, 58–61; 1964, pp. 42–84), small picture stones such as Halla Broa V–VI, featuring a wave-shaped upper edge (cist stones), were originally used either pairwise representing grave markers or in a group of four forming cist-shaped (grave or sacrificial) monuments. However, all known cist stones have been discovered in secondary contexts (Stenkvist 2014). See IX.
GP 144 Halla Broa V

Measurements, Material and Condition
“Limestone slab, up to 11 cm thick. The obverse even, but with considerable bulges. The narrow sides are diverging towards the top and hewn at about right angles towards the obverse, the top side is hewn and rounded towards both the obverse and the reverse, without recognisable chamfer. The total height is 57 cm, of which 25 cm are above the lower edge of the decoration, the width between the upper corners is 37 cm. Decorated with chiselled lines 2 mm wide and 1 mm deep that form a border” (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 62). The stone is completely preserved, including the large root. The border decoration is clearly discernible, while some remains of carvings in the main field are very faint and hard to determine.

Description of Ornament and Images
The stone is framed by a border with a coarse step pattern, typical for middle-type picture stones (ʻAbschnittʼ B), which Lindqvist interprets as simplified twisted-cord. In the main field, according to Lindqvist, “[…] the remains of human figures etc. can be seen” (1941/42 II, p. 62). The photo of the painted stone provided by Lindqvist (1941/42 I. fig. 44, dating to 1937) as well as a drawing by Olof Sörling from 1911, kept in ATA’s Run och bildstenssamling, possibly show the legs and feet of a man in the right half of the image field, and perhaps the head and further scattered parts of a second human figure in the left half. A small box-like square appears to be placed on the bottom line of the field, approimately. in its middle. However, this interpretation is uncertain. It cannot be ruled out that these lines represent the remains of a geometrical pattern instead, similar to the border decoration. Another drawing by Sörling, which was published in Fornvännen 1906, fig. 7, does not consider these carvings at all but shows an empty field. Photos of the unpainted stone (1933) and Sörling’s drawings are kept in ATA’s as well.

Interpretation of the Imagery
No interpretation

Type and Dating
The typical outline of a small gabel-like slab with wave-shaped upper edge, a so-called cist stone, is completely preserved. In most cases, those stones represent late-type monuments, belonging to Lindqvist’s ʻAbschnittʼ C/D or E. Due to the small size and the typical border decoration of Halla Broa V–VI, however, Lindqvist (1941/42 I, pp. 38, 40) assigns both stones to ʻAbschnittʼ B, dating to AD 500–700. They are the only cist stones that Lindqvist assigned to ʻAbschnittʼ B. However, already in “Gotlands Bildsteine” he remarked that their original function as parts of a cist-shaped (sacrificial) monument, which consists of four slabs, remains uncertain (ibid.). In his 1964 (p. 42) study about “Forngutniska Altaren” Lindqvist does not regard Halla Broa V–VI as ʻcist stonesʼ in the narrow sense anymore, preferring the term “slabs with cist-stone-outline”. Instead, he believes that they were grave markers that were placed at the head and the foot end of a grave, with their roots forming an underground stone cist (1964, p. 42).
GP 144 Halla Broa V

References
Fornvännen 1906, pp. 209–210, fig. 6; Lindqvist 1941/42 I, p. 38, 40, fig. 44; II, pp. 62; 1964, 42, fig. 13; Rundkvist 2012, p. 152 no. 12; Stenqvist 2014, p. 12, fig. 16; Oehrl 2019a, pp. 11, 32.

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