GP 167 Halla Unsarve

Context and Discovery ⓘ
The stone was found in the 1870’s by the farmer P. A. Hellgren when he cultivated a meadow called Krämpar, which earlier had belonged to Granskogs in Halla. Slitegårds, which probably is referred to in the runic inscription and is located just north of Granskogs. Unsarve and Granskogs are neighbouring farms on each side of the border between the parishes Halla and Dalhem. The meadow Krämpar is situated 500 m north of Unsarve, to the west of the road between Dalhem and Kräklingbo. The name Krämpar is not in use any longer, but Elisabeth Svärdström tells in Gotlands runinskrifter II that an old man remembered that the name was use in his youth for some poor soils in that area. The fragment earlier belonged to the collections of Visby högre allmänna läroverk (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 67; GR II, pp. 10–11). There is a drawing by Olof Sörling dated 1913–14, complemented with handwritten notes (by another hand?) about the runes, as well as photos from 1920 by Sune Lindqvist, from 1922 by John W. Hamner and from 1933 by Harald Faith-Ell. On the two latter, we see the carving filled in with white colour (Run- och bildstenssamlingen, ATA).

Halla parish has no fewer than 29 known picture stones, covering all types from A–E (GP 142–170). At Unsarve, there is a prehistoric grave field with round stone settings, some of them with spherical grave markers, and remains of prehistoric and/or medieval settlement (Fornsök).
LKÅ
GP 142 Halla Broa VII
GP 143 Halla Broa I
GP 144 Halla Broa V
GP 145 Halla Broa VI
GP 146 Halla Broa VIII
GP 147 Halla Broa X
GP 148 Halla Broa XIX
GP 149 Halla Broa IX
GP 150 Halla Broa XVI
GP 151 Halla Broa XX
GP 152 Halla Hallegårda
GP 153 Halla kyrka 2
GP 154 Halla Broa 21
GP0155
GP 156 Halla Broa XI
GP 157 Halla Broa XII
GP 158 Halla Broa XIV
GP 159 Halla kyrka (I)
GP 160 Halla Broa II
GP 161 Halla Broa III
GP 162 Halla Broa IV
GP 163 Halla Broa XIII
GP 164 Halla Broa XV
GP 165 Halla Broa XVII
GP 166 Halla Broa XVIII
GP 168 Halla kyrka 3
GP 169 Halla kyrka 4
GP 170 Halla kyrka 5

Measurements, Material and Condition ⓘ
Yellowish-grey limestone. Fragment, height 0.34 m, width 0.40 m (the original width c. 0.50 m), thickness 0.09–0.12 m. The height of the runes is 5 cm. The fragment is the top of a small cist stone (GR II, p. 10). The obverse is hewn flat and polished, the other broad side also worked, albeit less completely. The narrow sides are dressed along their full width, crosswise slightly convex. The distance between the tip and the horizontal line below the animal is 29 cm. Decorated with 3-mm wide lines that generally have rounded bases. No drill was used (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 67).
LKÅ

Description of Ornament and Images ⓘ
The front has a rune band along the edge. In the field inside the band, there is a backwards-looking four-footed runic animal in runestone style above a horizontal border (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 67; GR II, p. 10).
LKÅ

Interpretation of the Imagery ⓘ
The picture stone has been interpreted as a cist stone. At the time of writing Gotlands Bildsteine, Sune Lindqvist regarded the cist stones as memorials for women (Lindqvist 1941–42 I, p. 59), but later he turned to regard them as cists for votive offerings and suggested that the cist stones might show events in the neighbourhood (Lindqvist 1964, p. 82). Lindqvist mentions our stone from Halla Unsarve in relation to, e.g., GP 341 Sanda kyrka I and GP 201 Hemse Annexhemman I (Lindqvist 1964, p. 76). The relation between cist stones and women has later been further investigated in light of wagon graves, and it has been suggested that there may be a connection between the shape of the wagon basket and the shape of the cist stones (Snædal 2004, p. 60; 2010, p. 446; see GP 360 Sproge). More recently, it has been suggested that the small E-stones are churchyard monuments, analogous to early Christian grave monuments on Öland. This is supported by their size, the carvings that often are in relief and the find circumstances (GR I, pp. 49–50; Ljung 2016 I, p. 165–166).

The Unsarve stone is decorated with a backwards-looking four-footed animal. On Gotland, backwards-looking four-footed animals appear on the cist stones from Buttle Änge (GP 57, 59, 60). The backwards-looking animal is a common motif on Iron age and Viking age metal art as well, and can be seen for example on bracteates, fibulae and pendants (as examples of the latter, we might mention the pendants from Bringetofta, Jönköpings län (Jönköpings läns museum, inv.nr JM.16887:25) and Tuna in Alsike parish in Uppland (SHM 9404)). Four-footed animals appear on a large number of runestones, about a hundred. In the 11th century, we find the particular backwards-looking variant in Urnes style for example on some runestones in Uppland (U 428, U 449, U 955, U 980 and U Fv1955; 219), where we also find the best parallels to the Unsarve stone in some stones carved by the well-known rune-carver Fot. The backwards-looking four-footed animal can also be found on runestones in Närke (Nä 34), Hälsingland (Hs 14) and Öland (Öl Fv1911;274B). In a runestone context, the four-footed runic animal variously has been interpreted as a dragon, lion (e.g., Fuglesang 1980, p. 176; 2001, p. 169, p. 173; NIyR 1, p. 163) or wolf (e.g. Källström 2016, p. 269; 2021, p. 48–49; for a summary of earlier interpretations, see Oehrl 2011, pp. 48ff.). Sigmund Oehrl has discussed the motif in the light of illustrations in medieval Continental manuscripts and finds it likely that the four-footed animal in many cases probably signifies the Fenris wolf, as a symbol of demon powers, Ragnarök and the end of time – especially when appears in fetters (Oehrl 2006; 2011, pp. 289–293).
LKÅ
GP 341 Sanda kyrka I
GP 201 Hemse Annexhemman I
GP 360 Sproge kyrka
GP0057
GP0059
GP0060

Runic Context and Comments ⓘ
The runic inscription was investigated by Otto von Friesen in 1922 and by Elias Wessén in 1944 (GR II, pp. 10–11). The name Líknmundr is only known from Gotland, where it is also found on a grave slab in Tofta church (G 198) and as a name of a farm, Likmunds, in Gerum parish. The site Slitegårds in Dalhem parish is situated a little less than 1 km north-west of Granskogs and equally far to the north-east of Unsarve (GR II, p. 11).
LKÅ

Type and Dating ⓘ
Type E, cist stone. Pr4, c. 1070–1100 AD (Gräslund 2006, p. 126).
LKÅ

References ⓘ
Lindqvist 1941/42 I, Fig. 173, II, p. 67–68, Fig. 401; 1964, p. 76; GR II, G 141; Snædal 2002, p. 76.

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