GP 219 Källunge kyrka I

Context and Discovery
An apsidal choir built between 1100 and 1150 was the first part of the church, while the present nave and the tower date to around 1150. The small Romanesque choir, however, was replaced by a new and much larger Gothic style choir with sacristy. Both the choir and the sacristy were not finished before 1350. The tiny Romanesque nave could not be used as such anymore and therefore the ʻoversizedʼ choir serves as main part of the church. Six picture stone fragments embedded into the floor of the small nave were published by Sune Lindqvist in 1941/42 (GP 219–224 Källunge kyrka I–VI). In 1984, Beata Böttger-Niedenzu discovered three previously unknown picture stone fragments inside the choir of the church: GP 226–228 Källunge kyrka 8–10. Between 1979 and 1984, another possible picture stone was discovered in front of the sacristy door (GP 225 Källunge kyrka 7). Regarding the stones in the small nave, Lindqvist explains the situation as follows:

“Nos IV and V definitely are parts of one – or possibly two – upright picture stone(s). The others either belong to picture stones, too, or to kerbstones. All these fragments are kept in the Romanesque nave; their upwards-facing obverses are part of the flooring in this area and are flush with the floor. Nos I–V, however, are integrated into the walls, from which they protrude to a width of up to about 30 cm. No. VI gives the impression of being built into the wall in the same way, but closer examination reveals that the exposed part of the stone does not extend into the masonry. As the room has such an edging all around – which perhaps served as a bench earlier, when the floor level was lower – and this in several places is completely covered with lime mortar, it cannot be ruled out that more fragments of picture stones might be observed here in the future. Nos I–III were discovered and sketches drawn of them in 1912, the others were recognised as parts of picture stones only in 1932. Nos I–III lay in a west-east row at the south side, No. I with its western edge 1 m to the east of the southern portal, No. IV at the west wall just south of the opening to the tower, No. V as second stone in the south wall (counted from the south-west corner), No. VI at the north wall, close to the altar in the north-east corner” (1941/42 II, p. 78).

Since the publication of “Gotlands Bildsteine”, the floor covering of the nave seems to have been renewed. As a result, the stones †GP 222–224 Källung kyrka IV–VI (RAÄ Källunge 54:5–7) are today untraceable and Lindqvist’s descriptions of stones I–III (RAÄ Källunge 54:2–4) suggest that they could be better examined in his time than today. This renewal must have taken place before 1977, as the stones IV–VI could not be found already during the RAÄ inventory. Stones I–III are only documented in the form of drawings (Roosval 1935, fig. 300; Lindqvist 1941/42 II, figs. 425–427), and no illustrations of stones IV–VI are available at all, either in Lindqvist’s book or in the archives in Stockholm and Visby.
GP 220 Källunge kyrka II
GP 221 Källunge kyrka III
GP 222 Källunge kyrka IV
GP 223 Källunge kyrka V
GP 224 Källunge kyrka VI
GP 226 Källunge kyrka 8
GP 227 Källunge kyrka 9
GP 228 Källunge kyrka 10
GP 225 Källunge kyrka 7

Measurements, Material and Condition
The visible rectangular part of the limestone slab, which protrudes from the wall, measures 0.30 x 0.93 m, its visible thickness is 4 cm. According to Lindqvist, its total thickness was 10 cm. “The obverse possibly is worked, the outward-facing narrow side is hewn flat at right angles towards the obverse. It remains unclear, however, whether in this case this is original. Of the other visible narrow sides, the left one is a secondary, diagonal break surface, as probably is the right one, which secondarily was levelled at a right angle towards the outward-facing narrow side” (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 78). The surface is much abraded and the original ornament hardly discernible.

Description of Ornament and Images
“On the obverse, there are two shallow, 0.5 cm wide grooves that run along the outer edge and are slightly curved inwards; between the grooves, background fields are chiselled weakly, surrounding a border pattern or figures of unclear shape” (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 78). Most likely the much-abraded border decoration represented a diamond or triangle pattern like on GP 220–221 Källunge Kyrka II–III.
GP 220 Källunge kyrka II
GP 221 Källunge kyrka III

Interpretation of the Imagery
No interpretation

Type and Dating
Early-type monument, probably of the kerbstone type (ʻRandsteinʼ in German or ʻkantstenʼ in Swedish) (Lindqvist 1941/42 I, p. 28; II, p. 78). According to Lindqvist, groups of those recumbent kerbstone slabs, belonging to his ʻAbschnittʼ A (circa AD 400–600), formed a kerb which surrounded a grave mound, probably with a large, erected Type A picture stone on top of it. While the unusual geometric border decoration of the stones no. I–III most probably speaks for ʻAbschnittʼ A (see VI), the exact type and function of the monuments remain uncertain due to their fragmentary condition. They could well represent the edge of a kind of upright picture stone.

References
Hanna Hegardt in Roosval 1935, p. 207; Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 78, fig. 427.

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