GP 174 Hangvar kyrka I

Context and Discovery
The stone and its find history has been described by Thorgunn Snædal in the manuscript to the third part of Gotlands runinskrifter (GR 3). The stone is mentioned 1667 in Rannsakningarna, the antiquarian inventory begun in Sweden in the 17th century. It was then reported to be situated in the churchyard, but earlier it had been situated in a forest named Fårsweden (today Forsvidar). There is a drawing of the stone still in the churchyard from c.1690–1700 by an unknown artist in Peringskiöld’s Monumenta Sveo-Gothorum. In 1741, the stone was drawn by Carl von Linné. Linné visited the church in Hangvar on June 27th 1741, when he and his companions arose at 4 o’clock in the morning to read four runestones adjacent to each other in the churchyard (von Linné 1975 [1741], p. 175). Furthermore, it has been treated by Georg Wallin in Gotländska samlingar and Runographia Gothlandica. When Hilfeling visited the church in the year 1800, it was lying to the south of the church together with some runic grave slabs. Hilfeling wrote that they were in a bad condition and covered with moss, so he asked an old woman to clean them as a preparation for his investigation. There is information in Gutniska urkunder that C. Säve examined the inscription in 1854, but there is no picture by P. A. Säve. According to Snædal, the stone remained in the churchyard until 1911, when it was transferred to Gotland Museum (GR 3, see G 309).

There are seven picture stones from Hangvar parish. There are three more from the church (GP 171, GP 175, GP 176), two from Austers (GP 172, GP 173) and one from Sigsarve (GP 177).

The Forsveden mentioned in the Rannsakningar is a large forest to the south of the church, with several marshes. Snædal suggests that the stone had been raised close to an old road between Tingstäde and Hangvar, at a stretch where the road crossed one of the wetlands. Rannsakningarna also shows that the stone was well-known in the neighbourhood and that it probably had been situated by the road in the forest up until it was moved to the church, probably shortly before the antiquarian inventory was made (GR 3, see G 309). Parts of the old road through Forsveden were documented as a sunken lane in the National Survey of ancient remains (fornminnesinventeringen; Fornsök L1976:2696).
LKÅ
GP0171
GP0175
GP 176 Hangvar kyrka 4
GP 172 Hangvar Austers II
GP 173 Hangvar Austers I
GP0177

Measurements, Material and Condition
Two fragments. The large fragment: length 0,87 m, width 0,83 m and thickness 0,12–0,14 m. The small fragment: 0,42 x 0,47 x 0,12 m. The width of the head is 0,83 m, that of the neck 0,64 m. (GR 3; Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 68, fig. 402). The height of the runes is 4,5–5 cm. Limestone. The small fragment looks very different from the large fragment, due to its white colour as compared to the grey colour of the larger fragment.

Hilfeling’s drawing shows that the stone was broken already in 1800. Of the lower part (the base), only the lower left corner is now preserved. The carved surface is rough and uneven, and in part severely worn by trampling. (GR 3).

When Hilfeling’s drawing reproduced by Liljegren was created, the stone was preserved in complete condition, albeit broken in two. The stone was then in the cemetery. Today, only the upper half and a small piece of the lower half survive. The obverse appears to have been hewn carefully and is almost flat. The narrow sides are hewn flat at right angles towards the obverse and rounded towards the back. The reverse is rough and unworked. Both the decoration and the runes are incised with narrow, shallow lines (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 68).
LKÅ

Description of Ornament and Images
The rune band follows the edge of the stone. The inscription starts at the lower left.

Inside the rune band along the edge, there are remains of ornament consisting of two symmetrical snakes. The design with two symmetrically placed snakes or dragons, free-standing covering the field inside and along the edge of the rune-band, and themselves without runes, is reminiscent of GP 23 Ardre kyrka IV (G 111) and GP 22 Ardre kyrka III (G 113).

In the head of the stone, there is a cross. The cross-arms are interlaced in the middle, type A5, and the cross-arms widen towards the end, type F3, in Lager’s classification system for runestone crosses (Lager 2002, pp. 65–72). The interlace cross of type A5 creates a kind of trompe l’æil-effect (Lager 2002, p. 69). A browse through the runic text-database reveals that at least 60 runestones have crosses of this type, most of them characterised as belonging to any of the style-groups of the first half of the 11th century in Gräslund’s style chronological system, i.e., unornamented (RAK), bird’s-eye perspective (FP), Pr1 and Pr2 (SRD; Gräslund, 2006). They have a wide geographical distribution, ranging from Skåne to Medelpad. We may suspect that there are more, since all runestones have not been examined in this perspective and the cross on GP 174 is not included among those that have been classified in the database.
LKÅ
GP 23 Ardre kyrka IV
GP 22 Ardre kyrka III

Interpretation of the Imagery
No interpretation

Runic Context and Comments
The runic inscription has been read and interpreted by Thorgunn Snædal (GR 3, see G 309). The runestone was sponsored by the man Leiknarr in memory of his father and brother and at least one additional person. The available space indicates that the last one might have been a brother-in-law or other male relative by marriage (GR 3, see G 309).

This stone is one of only two stones on Gotland mentioning a bridge. The other is GP 208 Hogrän kyrka I (G 203). There are several runestones mentioning bridges on the Swedish mainland and on Öland, as well as a few in Denmark and Norway, around 140 in total. These bridges are thought to mainly refer to embankments across wetlands (GR 3). The phenomenon as such, of building bridges and mentioning them in memorial inscriptions, is often interpreted in the context of Christianization. The building of bridges was a practical improvement of infrastructure that at the same time was loaded with symbolic meaning; the priests could reach the people and the people could more easily go to the church (Nordberg/Andersson 2009; Gräslund 2009, p. 29; Jansson 1984, p. 110). Other late runestones mentioning bridges are the Norwegian Dynna stone (N 68) and the rune carving in rock in Näs, Frösunda parish in Uppland (U 347) (Gräslund 2009, p. 29; Nordberg 2009, p. 80). However, it has been pointed out that bridges have a place in Old Norse mythology as well (Nordberg 2009, pp. 78–79). Nordberg suggests that the Scandinavian early understanding of bridges for the souls paved the ground for bridges being introduced as parts of missionary strategies in the North (Nordberg 2009, pp. 81–82). It is remarkable that a runic monument of this late date still retains the function as a roadside monument, in a period when the runic monuments to a high degree were churchyard monuments.
LKÅ
GP0208

Type and Dating
Type E. The stone is of the same type as GP 208 Hogrän kyrka (G 203) and the stones from Stenkumla, GP 361 Stenkumla kyrka I (G 207) and GP 362 Stenkumla kyrka II (G 208), dated to the second half of the 11th century. Snædal indicates that the runography, language forms and ornament speaks for a slightly younger date for this stone, GP 174, and dates it to c. 1125–1150. One argument in favour of this late dating is the spelling ok. The spelling in the Viking Age inscriptions is almost exclusively auk, but in the Middle Ages it is replaced by ok, which is the form used in the Guta law and the Guta saga. Snædal therefor argues that GP 174 probably is the latest picture stone-shaped runestone on Gotland that we know of (Snædal 2002, p. 83, 100; GR 3, see G 309).
LKÅ
GP0208
GP 361 Stenkumla kyrka I
GP 362 Stenkumla kyrka II

References
Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 68; GR 3, see G 309; Snædal 2002, pp. 83, 100; Wallin 1751, p. 96; Hilfeling 1800, tab.14; Liljegren 1833, L1570.

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