GP 196 Hellvi Ire I

Context and Discovery
The cemetery of Ire is one of Gotland’s largest and most important Iron Age burial grounds. It lies directly south of Lilla Ire farm, on a narrow, elongated elevation in the terrain, an area of about 385 x 40–70 m (NNV-SSÖ) immediately along and east of the road between Lilla Ire and Stora Ire. An estimated 400 (according to RAÄ, while Stenberger mentioned about 600) stone settings (rösen (cairns) and other circular stone settings) are still visible today. The burial ground was used continuously from the Roman Iron Age to the late Viking Period, is rich in finds and barely disturbed. During the straightening of the road, the first graves, dating to different periods, were archaeologically investigated in 1933–34. This was followed by isolated investigations of graves in various areas of the cemetery. In 1941–43 and 1945, the southern, Viking Age part of the burial ground was completely excavated under the direction of Mårten Stenberger (1936; 1942a–b; 1961; Thunmark-Nylén 1995–2006 IV:1, pp. 390–437).

Hellvi Ire I was discovered by Stenberger in 1935 when excavating the stone mound (cairn) (röse) no. 396 (= grave 99 in Nerman 1969/75; Stenberger 1936, pp. 91–96, fig. 11; Rundkvist 2012, p. 153 no. 25), which was almost oval, with a diameter of 3.3–4.0 m and a height of 35 cm. The picture stone had been used as cover slab directly on top of an undisturbed cremation burial within the stone mound, its obverse facing upwards. The back of the stone was stained black from the ashes of the cremation. The burial contained a sword, a lance, a set of gaming pieces of bone, several rectangular bronze and iron mounts, a knife, rivets with bronze heads, domed bronze sheet spangles, iron nails, fragments of a bone comb, a decorated pottery vessel, and a whetstone. The burial can be dated to the 6th century. Furthermore, the mound contained a female burial, also a cremation, with 28 glass beads, a carnelian, and the shaft of a bronze key. An exact dating of the female burial is not possible.

Stenberger (1936, p. 96) and Lindqvist (1942/42 I, pp. 32–33, fig. 1; cf. ATA run- och bildstenssamling A216:158) consider that Hellvi Ire I may have originally been erected on top of the nearby stone mound no. 394, which was framed by a ring of kerbstones. However, this is pure speculation. Lindqvist includes these kerbstones in his catalogue as “Hellvi Ire II”, although they have no decoration at all and therefore do not represent a kind of picture stone. However, as Lindqvist includes them, the stones GP 566–569 Hellvi Ire II:1–4 are also included in the present edition.
GP 566 Hellvi Ire II:1
GP 567 Hellvi Ire II:2
GP 568 Hellvi Ire II:3
GP 569 Hellvi Ire II:4

Measurements, Material and Condition
The fragment represents about the upper half of an early-type picture stone. It had been broken into three larger and several smaller pieces by the pressure of the mound’s stone cover. The various pieces have, however, been put together without much difficulty, and the stone is now displayed in Gotlands Museum. The slab is described by Lindqvist as follows (1941/42 II, p. 74): “Limestone slab, 12 cm thick. The obverse even, the narrow sides hewn flat at right angles towards the obverse to a width of up to 10 cm, and with an 18–22 mm wide chamfer towards the obverse. The reverse raw. Surviving height 140 cm, width between the upper corners 113 cm, at the bottom 97 cm.”

Description of Ornament and Images
The following description of the extraordinarily carefully worked and mostly clearly visible carvings is based on the painting of the stone by Sune Lindqvist in 1937 (1941/42 I, fig. 2; cf. ATA run- och bildstenssamling B3:54). The head part of the stone is occupied by a large roundel with a whorl motif. The whorl consists of three carved and three slightly raised spokes that alternate. The sickle-shaped spokes have a double outer line, just like the roundel itself. The corona of the roundel is formed by carved triangles, from which three line-shaped peaks extend. In the centre of the roundel there is a small central circle from which the sickle elements emanate, like a propeller. Below the whorl roundel is a pair of smaller roundels, not completely preserved, which show star-shaped rosettes, formed by 4- and 7-pointed oval prongs/leaves. The edge decoration of the picture stone consists of a double groove on the slightly convex upper side and single grooves on the lateral edges. From the latter, wave-shaped elements extend inwards and, like the prongs of the corona, end in three points. “Decorated with chiselled lines and chiselled background fields. The diameter of the large roundel is 75.5 cm (not counting the corona). Below, the left roundel is 28 cm in diameter, the right 28.5 cm. The grooves following the chamfers are 4 mm wide” (1941/42 II, p. 74).

The first published photograph of the stone by Stenberger (1936, fig. 12) depicts it with secondary paint, largely corresponding to Lindqvist’s interpretation, but instead of the three-pointed wavy elements on the edge lines, it reproduces remnants of a zigzag pattern.

Interpretation of the Imagery
The three-part elements in the border decoration as well as in the border of the central roundel are reminiscent of the three-part tails of the S-shaped serpentine creatures on GP 263 Lärbro Pavals and GP 506 Tingstäde kyrka XVII. That these are to be understood as reminiscences of Roman depictions of dolphins, ketoi and other sea creatures, for which three-part tails are quite characteristic, can hardly be overlooked (Lindqvist 1941/42 I, p. 89; II, pp. 91–92; Holmqvist 1952a; Hauck 1983a, pp. 547, 551). It is therefore more than likely that the tripartite elements on Hellvi Ire I are to be interpreted as sea creature abbreviations.

In Hauck’s view, the dolphin imitations on Gotland’s early picture stones also took on the meaning of their models on Roman and early Christian gravestones, where they were to be understood as saviours of humans and guides of the soul. Thus, according to Hauck, the appearance of these creatures fits well into the iconography of the Type A stones, in which he sees prayers carved in stone that quote the horrors of death as well as the promise of assistance and salvation. The main symbol of this is the large roundel with the whorl motif, which represents the sun and promises the eternal return of life (Hauck 1983a, esp. p. 547. cf. Pesch 2015b, p. 95).

More elaborate information on the possible interpretation of whorl motifs and the iconography of the Type A picture stones can be found in the article on GP 350 Sanda kyrka IV.
GP 263 Lärbro Pavals
GP 506 Tingstäde kyrka XVII
GP 350 Sanda kyrka IV

Type and Dating
The stone represents an Early Type monument, belonging to Lindqvist’s ʻAbschnittʼ A (circa AD 400–600). Lindqvist classifies the fragment as representative of his northern Gotlandic Pavalsgruppe, named after the stone GP 263 Lärbro Pavals (1941/42 I, p. 27). Characteristic of this relatively small group of monuments is their less-curved form with only a very slightly convex upper edge and hardly any protruding corners, and the depiction of rosettes and ʻdolphinʼ creatures (see VII). The stone is of some importance for Lindqvist’s dating of ʻAbschnittʼ A, as he sees particularly striking parallels between its decoration and the decoration of the Sösdala-style brooch from Eidsten in Vestfold, Norway (ibid. p. 109, fig. 250). In fact, the similarities are not limited to the design of the whorl motif alone, but also concern, as Hauck (1983a, pp. 591–592) notes, the combination of the whorl with star-shaped motifs as well as the appearance of sea creatures (in the case of Eidsten, a fish, ibid. fig. 56b).

Grave no. 394, on which, according to Stenberger and Lindqvist, the picture stone could have originally stood (see IV) dates to the 5th century or around AD 500. However, this reconstruction is speculative and cannot be supported. In any case, the grave in which Hellvi Ire I was secondarily incorporated dates to the 6th century (Period VII:1 according to Nerman, i.e., c. AD 550–600).
GP 263 Lärbro Pavals

References
Stenberger 1936, pp. 93–96, fig. 12; Lindqvist 1941/42 I, pp. 27, 32–33, 89, 92, 109, fig. 1–2; II, pp. 72, 74; Hauck 1983a, pp. 543, 552, 591–592, fig. 59; Guber 2011, p. 130 cat. no. 41; Rundkvist 2012, p. 153 no. 25; Oehrl 2019a, pp. 9, 24, 137.

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