Parish Find Location 
Lärbro

Find Location 
In a meadow east of Stora Hammars, close to a cairn. Part of ‘Daggängsmonumentet’.

Find Context Classification 
Private Property

Coordinate Find Location (lat) 
6407350

Coordinate Find Location (long) 
729153

Parish Present Location 
Unknown

Present Location 
Unknown

Present Location Classification 
Unknown

Material 
Unknown

Lindqvist Type 
C/D (ca. 700-1000)

Lindqvist Shape 
Tall stone
Unclear

Runic Inscription or not 
No

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 besides the cairns (GP 253–GP 257 Lärbro Stora Hammars I–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 like 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.

The fragments of the stone GP 257 Lärbro Stora Hammars V were found at Cairn 1. Sune Lindqvist describes the find situation as follows (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 in 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.’

Nordin states that ‘no traces of human funerals were observed in these three cairns. The unburnt animals bones as well as the ashes, however, seem to indicate that a funeral meal was held here, possibly in connection with a sacrifice in Cairn 2’ (Lindqvist 1941/1942 II 84).
MH
GP 253 Lärbro Stora Hammars I
GP 254 Lärbro Stora Hammars II
GP0255
GP 256 Lärbro Stora Hammars IV

Measurements, Material and Condition 
Lindqvist’s description is as follows:
‘One larger and two smaller fragments that possibly belonged to one and the same picture stone. They were found during the examination of Cairn 1. Their thickness was 9–14 cm. The obverse was smooth, the narrow side was rounded towards the back – more pronounced on the smaller fragments, less on the larger one. The reverse was raw and unworked’ (Lindqvist 1941/1942 II p. 89).

The fragments of GP 257 Lärbro Stora Hammars V were supposedly brought to Visby in 1923. Sune Lindqvist was unable to locate them (Lindqvist 1941/1942 II p. 83), and they are still missing up to this day.
MH

Description of Ornament and Images 
‘Regarding possible decorations, only on the smallest of the fragments a single line was recognised, which followed the hewn edge’ (Lindqvist 1941/1942 II p. 89).
MH

Interpretation of the Imagery 
No interpretation

Type and Dating 
Possibly once a 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 II, p. 84–89 fig. 444; Lindqvist 1947; Eshleman 1983; Imer 2001; Lamm/Nylén 2003, no. 188; Rundkvist 2012; Oehrl 2019a, Taf. 19, pp. 34, 67, 214.

Title
GP 257 Lärbro Stora Hammars V

Jan Peder Lamm ID 
188

Lindqvist Title 
Lärbro, Stora Hammars V