GP 188 Hejnum Bjärs IV

Context and Discovery
The Bjärs cemetery extends to the south of the farm on three closely spaced areas immediately east of the country road, consisting of a total of more than 80 stone settings still visible today, rösen (cairns) and other circular stone mounds: RAÄ Hejnum 31:1 (northern area, 165 x 50 m), 113:1 (middle area, 150 x 60 m), 36:1 (southern area, 190 x 30–65 m). A small area of 90 x 30 m containing 7 stone settings immediately west of the road, belonging to Bjärs prästgård (parsonage), is obviously also part of the Bjärs cemetery (RAÄ 45:1). About 160 graves were excavated by Fredrik Nordin (Nordin 1893; Nordin et al. 1906) during the years 1885–86. Further investigations of the spot were conducted by Nordin during the early 1890s. The cemetery was used from the Roman Iron Age until the Viking Period. Most of the graves, however, date to the Vendel Period. The stones Hejnum Bjärs II–V were found in the north-western corner of the northern cemetery area, close to the road and the stone Hejnum Bjärs I was found about 200 m further south, also close to the road, at the edge of the middle area.

GP 189 Hejnum Bjärs III and Hejnum Bjärs IV were found by Nordin in 1894 (Nordin 1903, p. 143; Nordin et al. 1906, pp. 61–62 [graves and stones], 138–140 [finds]; Nerman 1935, pp. 106–107). The stones were found together between graves no. 158 and 159 and appeared as unusually flat stones that rose from the ground (Nerman 1935, fig. 122). GP 189 Hejnum Bjärs III was at least 165 cm long and protruded vertically from the ground so that one long side was stuck lengthwise in the ground and the slab only protruded slightly, at a maximum of 30–40 cm. At right angles to this, Hejnum Bjärs IV protruded from the ground at about the same height. GP 189 Hejnum Bjärs III was oriented east-west and the smaller stone Hejnum Bjärs IV was oriented north-south. Directly next to GP 189 Hejnum Bjärs III, remains of a pottery vessel, ashes and an iron knife were found (grave no. 160), which, however, cannot be dated. Nordin subsumes the two ornamented stones and the mentioned finds under grave 160, but notes that there are no bones that clearly indicate a burial. Directly next to Hejnum Bjärs IV, however, towards the east, were two stone cists (graves no. 160 A and B) lying directly next to each other and sharing one long side. One cist (160 A) contained burnt human bones, three ornamented pottery vessels, a small bronze plate and a bronze brooch. The other cist (160 B) contained burnt human bones, a bronze pin and spring of a brooch, a bronze finger ring, an ornamented pottery vessel and a small unornamented pottery vessel, as well as a bronze brooch. The stone cists were not visible above ground. Both partially melted and deformed brooches correspond to the same type (cross-shaped head with knobs and triangular foot) and date to the 5th century (Nerman 1935, p. 107; Lindqvist 1941/42 I, p. 20). In the SHM catalogue, further information and new photos of the items are available; all finds mentioned above have the inventory number 10298:160, 10298:160A or 10298:160B.
SO
GP 187 Hejnum Bjärs II
GP 189 Hejnum Bjärs III
GP 182 Hejnum Bjärs V
GP 186 Hejnum Bjärs I

Measurements, Material and Condition
The dimensions given by Lindqvist (1941/42 II, p. 71) of the original limestone slab that was found are 67 cm in width, 52 cm in height, and 14 cm thick. Lindqvist only reproduces a photo of the stone taken by Harald Faith-Ell in 1933 (ibid. fig. 414), while Nordin’s and Olof Sörling’s drawings are kept in ATA (run- och bildstenssamling). At the time of discovery, the stone was already broken and included a large crack on its upper half that is clearly visible in the original photographs. This section has since broken off and is currently unaccounted for. The upper right corner in the photographs has also broken off but is kept together with the rest of the stone and can be seen in the current photographs and is included in the 3D model of the stone. The broad side of the stone is hewn flat but is heavily worn with little trace of the original carvings or ornamentation, while the back side of the stone is rough and unprocessed. Lindqvist describes the left narrow side as being “formed by a curved split surface extending downwards into the root” and the right side as being “hewn flat above the root, at right angles towards the obverse to a width of 11 cm” and connected to the broad side by a 2 cm wide chamfered edge (ibid.). The chamfered edge is not clearly visible, but there is a slightly angled edge approximately 1.5 cm wide next to the border decoration on the upper right fragment of the stone that has broken off. This lower edge of the stone that is described as the root, and on which it is set upright in the original photograph and the drawings, appears to have been cut relatively flat. The opposite surface, which is considered the upper edge, appears slightly rounded in the original photograph and was described by Lindqvist as hewn flat but heavily worn. Unfortunately, the upper edge consisted mostly of the fragment that is currently missing.
CJL/SO

Description of Ornament and Images
A thin incised groove (6–7 mm wide) runs horizontally across the length of the stone. Two parallel grooves 6–8 mm width and 1 mm depth are located on the separate fragment that constitutes the upper right corner and run parallel to the outer edge. According to Lindqvist (1941/42 II, p. 71), there are possibly “some indistinct traces of a pattern just above the long groove.” On the 3D model there appears to be traces of a geometric design that may be similar to the geometric tendril border on GP 189 Hejnum Bjärs III.
CJL/SO
GP 189 Hejnum Bjärs III

Interpretation of the Imagery
No interpretation

Type and Dating
Lindqvist (1941/42 I, pp. 28, 31, 110; II, p. 71) included Hejnum Bjärs IV within his ʻAbschnittʼ A which is dated to circa AD 400–600, but variously described it in his text as either a rectangular dwarf stone, a kerbstone, or more generally just as a picture stone. In his table of picture stones from ʻAbschnittʼ A, it is included under the section of ‘lying kerbstones’ (Liegende Randsteine) with “top decoration unknown” (ibid. p. 28). According to Lindqvist (1933, pp. 105, 107; 1941/1942 I, pp. 21, 31–33), the kerbstones formed an edge chain which surrounded a grave mound, possibly with an erected Type A picture stone in the center. It should be pointed out that no evidence has been found to confirm that any of the erected Type A picture stones were placed within a grave mound (Larkin 2023a, p. 50).

Nerman (1935, pp. 106–107) dated grave no. 160A–B to Period VI:1 (c. AD 400 to 475–500) and grave no. 159 to Period VI:2 (c. AD 475–500 to 550–600). He dated the picture stone GP 189 Hejnum Bjärs III to Period VI:2 based on comparisons between the border decoration and similar ornaments in jewellery (ibid.). It can be assumed that the cists and the low erected stones from Hejnum Bjärs were created at the same time. However, a connection between the graves and the stones cannot be proven with certainty. Based on the assessment of Oscar Montelius, Gabriel Gustafson and Fredrik Nordin believed that the sparsely decorated low stones GP 189 Hejnum Bjärs III and Hejnum Bjärs IV represent a transitional form between undecorated low erected stones and Type A picture stones (Lindqvist 1941/42 I, pp. 18–20). Nordin dated the brooches from grave no. 160A–B, and thus also GP 189 Hejnum Bjärs III and Hejnum Bjärs IV, to the period between AD 200 and 400 (ibid.). Lindqvist rejected this interpretation, dating the two stones on the basis of the brooches, in accordance with Nerman, to the 5th century, i.e., to the same period as the tall Type A picture stones, and classifying GP 189 Hejnum Bjärs III and even Hejnum Bjärs IV (albeit with uncertainty) as kerbstones (ibid. cf. Stenberger 1936, p. 85).

The question arises whether the stones GP 189 Hejnum Bjärs III and Hejnum Bjärs IV represent another type of picture stone to be separated from the kerbstones, and whether more of the monuments classified by Lindqvist as kerbstones were not in fact erected instead of lying in a circle on the ground (see Larkin 2023a). The sparsely decorated stones, which Lindqvist (1941/42 I, p. 31) describes as “dwarf stones with rectangular or almost rectangular shape”, also protrude only very slightly from the ground and are therefore comparable in this respect with GP 189 Hejnum Bjärs III and Hejnum Bjärs IV. Lindqvist also counts GP 187 Hejnum Bjärs II, GP 440 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs X, GP 430 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XI, and GP 431 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XII, all from grave contexts, among these rectangular dwarf stones.

Lindqvist (1964, p. 53) describes the two erected stones (GP 189 Hejnum Bjärs III, Hejnum Bjärs IV) as having been kerbstones that were used secondarily, possibly to form a kind of above ground sacrificial coffin (offerkista). This is the same function which he proposed for the group of picture stones categorized as cist stones that are found in later periods (Lindqvist 1941/42 I, pp. 40, 47–48, 58–59; 1964, pp. 42–47, 49). Thus, he disregards the interpretation that these stones were meant to be erected and assumes that they were repurposed kerbstones. Lindqvist’s interpretation that these low decorated picture stones were kerbstones rather than erected stones is partly based on their dating. While it had previously been considered that these low stones were precursors to the tall, erected stones of ʻAbschnitt’ A, a transition from the earlier remnants of limestone slabs that have been found on grave fields from the Roman Iron Age, Lindqvist discarded this interpretation based on the concurrent dating of the low stones and the tall, erected stones (Stenberger 1936, p. 85; Lindqvist 1941/42 I, pp. 18–21, 31–33). While the two types of picture stones can be dated to the same time period, this does not exclude the possibility that they were both meant to be erected. Lindqvist (1941/42 I, pp. 31–33) also points to the long, narrow kerbstones with a convex outer edge (GP 377–381 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VI, GP 382 Stenkyrka Tystebols, GP 566–569 Hellvi Ire II) to claim that these low, decorated stones were also kerbstones, however, this disregards the lack of decoration on the confirmed kerbstones and differences in their overall shape (for further discussion see Larkin 2023a).
CJL/SO
GP 189 Hejnum Bjärs III
GP 187 Hejnum Bjärs II
GP 440 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs X
GP 430 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XI
GP 431 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XII

References
Nordin 1903, p. 143; Nordin et al. 1906, p. 61, fig. 16; Nerman 1935, pp. 106–107, fig. 122; Lindqvist 1933, pp. 105, 107; 1941/42 I, pp. 18–20, 28, 31–33, 110; II, p. 71, fig. 414; 1964, p. 53; Lamm/Nylén 2003, p.187; Larkin 2023a, p.50.

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