GP 254 Lärbro Stora Hammars II

Context and Discovery ⓘ
‘The stone was part of a large assemblage of ancient monuments called ‘Daggängsmonumentet’ that includes several picture stones. The site consists of three large cairns and five tall picture stones; the stones were found lying upon or beside the cairns (GP 253–GP 257 Lärbro Stora Hammars I–V; see GP 253 Lärbro Stora Hammars I, GP 255 Lärbro Stora Hammars III, GP 256 Lärbro Stora Hammars IV, GP 257 Lärbro Stora Hammars V). Originally, the picture stones had stood upright next to the cairns (Lindqvist 1941/1942 II, 83–86; Lindqvist 1948, 19–23). The cairns contained large amounts of burnt and unburnt animal bones, ashes, charcoal and some small finds including a grinding stone and an arrowhead. No traces of burials were documented. About 30 to 70 m away, there are some more cairns, probably burials, and some foundations of ancient buildings.

For the detailed description of the site and the cairns, see GP 253 Lärbro Stora Hammars I.

This stone was found close to Cairn 1 (Lindqvist 1941/1942 II 83–84):

Cairn 1
Made up of cobbles, 12.8 m long, 10.2 m wide, and 1 m high. The longitudinal axis runs from the northwest to the southeast. The picture stones Nos I and II once stood at the eastern edge of the cairn. Later, they had fallen over, namely No. I inwards, in such a way that it was in a semi-recumbent position, with its obverse facing downwards, while No. II had fallen outwards and was discovered in a completely horizontal position, with the obverse facing upwards. A smaller limestone slab, which possibly belonged to No. II, lay in the middle and on top of the cairn. Probably both stones formerly stood in a line west-east +15° south-north at a distance of just a few decimetres from each other, the obverses facing southeast. Between these stones, a number of unburnt animal bones were found during excavation, 70 cm below ground level (a). Likewise, to the north of stone No. I. In the south part of the cairn, in a depth of 50–60 cm, there also unburnt animal bones (b) were found, as were a little distance west of the centre, at the same depth. Here, the earth was dark under the cairn’s bottom stones due to the admixture of ash (c). Close to this concentration of bones, there was located in the centre of the cairn another large amount of unburnt animal bones (d), and this layer of bones extended down into the bottom clay under the cairn. About 90 cm east of the eastern edge of stone No. I, a 15.5 cm long iron arrowhead was discovered [fig. 433]. It lay at a depth of only 30 cm, with its point towards the southeast. Close by, a rough grindstone was found. Among the occasional limestone cobbles occurring in the cairn, there was one stone that apparently represents the root of a picture stone, probably of No. V. Also, two smaller pieces came to light that possibly belong to it as well. If our assumption is correct, all three of these pieces should have been parts of the left side of a picture stone’ (Lindqvist 1941/1942 II p. 84).

In 1923, GP 254 Lärbro Stora Hammars II and GP 255 Lärbro Stora Hammars III were erected just a short distance from the find spot, on the other side of the border of the “socken”, on Hellvi prästäng (“priest meadow”). In 1946, it was transferred to Bunge Museum.
MH
GP 253 Lärbro Stora Hammars I
GP0255
GP 256 Lärbro Stora Hammars IV
GP 257 Lärbro Stora Hammars V

Measurements, Material and Condition ⓘ
‘Limestone slab, on average 25–30 cm thick. The obverse is severely weathered, certainly naturally smooth. The narrow sides are hewn smooth at roughly right angles towards the obverse and rounded towards the back; the reverse is raw and unworked. The stone’s surviving total height is 330 cm, of which 240 cm are now above ground. The width of the head is 129 cm, that of the neck 102 cm and that of the base 140 cm’ (Lindqvist 1941/1942 II 87).
MH

Description of Ornament and Images ⓘ
In his monograph, Lindqvist mentions that only faint traces of the border and perhaps a bit of the top panel can be discerned (Lindqvist 1941/1942 II 87). A few years later, the stone was inspected again, and more details could be discerned (Lindqvist 1947, 22–23 fig. 2), above all the border with its ribbon pattern, and some horizontal lines that once were the division of the image panels. Lindqvist painted this stone in 1946.
MH

Interpretation of the Imagery ⓘ
No interpretation

Type and Dating ⓘ
Tall mushroom-shaped late-type picture stone, belonging to ʻAbschnittʼ C according to Lindqvist (1941/42 I, p. 44). Lindqvist dates those stones to around AD 700. He assigns this stone to his ʻLärbrogruppeʼ (ibid. pp. 44, 47). Lori Eshleman (1983) argues that the stones of this group had been strongly influenced by the art of the Carolingian Renaissance and thus must be dated to the period between AD 790 and 840. Current research, however, tends to date the Type C/D stones roughly to between the 8th century and the 10th century (Rundkvist 2012; Imer 2001).
MH

References ⓘ
Lindqvist 1941/1942 I fig. 84; II p. 87 fig. 435; Lindqvist 1947; Eshleman 1983; Imer 2001; Lamm/Nylén 2003, no. 185; Rundkvist 2012; Oehrl 2019a, pl. 19, p. 34, 214, 222.

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