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Gotlandic Picture Stones - The Online Edition

GP 346 Sanda Sandegårda II









PARTS

mer grejer





Measured length
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Parish Find Location ⓘ
Sanda

Find Location ⓘ
(Lilla) Sandegårda (today Sandgårde) in Sanda parish, probably from the local Late Iron Age burial ground.

Find Context Classification ⓘ
Grave-field

Present Location Classification ⓘ
Gotlands Museum Fornsalen

Coordinate Present Location (lat) ⓘ
6393355

Coordinate Present Location (long) ⓘ
696536

Material
Limestone

Height ⓘ
106

Width ⓘ
49

Thickness ⓘ
12

Lindqvist Type 

Lindqvist Shape 

Iconographic Keywords
 ⓘ        

Runic Inscription or not ⓘ
No

Context and Discovery ⓘ
Lindqvist (1941/42 II, p. 110) only notes that the picture stone no. II was delivered to Gotlands Fornsal in 1929. Regarding stone no. I, he mentions that it was found by the farmer W. Pettersson in Lilla Sandegårda, without giving a date (ibid.).

According to a letter dated 1930-01-03 which is kept in ATA, both GP 340 Sanda Sandegårda I and Sanda Sandegårda II were found in a grave field. No. II is said to have been discovered in 1929 by farmer Harald Hansson lying close to the surface in the burial ground. This is probably the burial ground registered by RAÄ as Sanda 36:1 (larger part of the cemetery south of the road) and 175:1 (smaller part north of the road). Finds have been brought in from here since the middle of the 19th century. In 1936, the cemetery was mapped by G. A. Hellmann, and about 575 burials were identified. Some graves located in the north-eastern edge were investigated by Hellman in 1937. The find material, including several coins, comprises mainly Vendel and Viking Age objects (Thunmark-Nylén 1995–2006 IV:2, pp. 615–618, stone no. II is mentioned on p. 616 but without any further information).
GP 340 Sanda Sandegårda I

Measurements, Material and Condition ⓘ
“Limestone slab, 8–12 cm thick. The obverse is naturally even, curved, and features several deep depressions. The narrow sides, which severely have suffered from weathering just as the other sides, probably were chamfered towards the back. The reverse is raw. The stone’s height is 107 cm, of which 63.5 cm are accounted for by the part above the lower edge of the decoration. The width of the head is 35 cm, that of the neck 32 cm, and that of the base 45 cm” (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 110). The entire mushroom-shaped monument is preserved, including its large root. The surface is weathered and the carvings hard to discern.

Description of Ornament and Images ⓘ
In the older photographs of the unpainted stone kept in ATA (run- och bildstenssamling, 1718:60 and dnr. 4903-29) and published in Lindqvist’s book (1941/42 I, fig. 119), the pictorial representations are almost not visible at all. Lindqvist’s description corresponds to his picture of the painted stone from 1933 (ibid. figs. 106, 118): “The decoration was sketched out in lines and largely executed by the chiseling of the background fields. Apart from the base, the field is surrounded by an s-spun cord that forms a border without actually being a frame. A 2.5–3 cm wide band divides the field into two parts. The upper panel shows at its very top a motif reminiscent of a swastika, and below it, there are two figures facing each other – probably men – in different costumes. They appear to be shaking hands. In the lower panel, an indistinct figure can be seen at the top, and below, three men are shown of whom the two on the right are dressed in the same manner as the two persons in the upper panel – they, too, seem to be shaking hands. The man on the left holds up his hand in their direction. Even today, the festive meaning of these images without words seems clear to every observer.” (ibid. II, p. 110).

Concerning the men’s costume, at least two of them seem to wear harem trousers (Toplak 2011, pp. 61–65) while the others are dressed in long robes that reach down to the ankles. From the outstretched arms of all men, long tips hang down that reach almost to the ground and look like hanging sleeves. Men with long robes or harem trousers and hanging tips of the type described occur frequently on Type C/D picture stones, for example on GP 244 Lokrume kyrka, GP 258 Lärbro Tängelgårda I, GP 252 Lärbro Tängelgårda IV, GP 532 Träkumla kyrka I, GP 280 När Smiss i, GP 397 Stenkyrka Smiss I. There is little justification for regarding such figures with long robes and hanging tips as women (Lindqvist 1941/1942 II, p. 96; 1964, p. 68) or androgynous figures (Göransson 1999, pp. 67–68; cf. Helmbrecht 2011, p. 239; 2012, p. 88), as they often have male characteristics (beard), and ceremonial long robes may well have been worn by men. In Old Norse, the term slœður or slœðor (fem. pl.) denotes a trailing dress or, as in the case of Egill Skalla-Grímsson, the long trailing garment of a man (Egils saga ch. 67 – Sigurður Nordal 1933, p. 213). Toplak (2011, p. 48; cf. Ewing 2007, p. 171) associates the ankle-length garments, gathered at the hip, as depicted on GP 258 Lärbro Tängelgårda I, with the Old Norse term kyrtill.

However, there is disagreement about the meaning of the hanging tip. It is not very likely that these represent long hanging sleeves (as suggested by Holmqvist 1976, p. 564; Ewing 2007, pp. 91, 93, 115, 119; Toplak 2011, pp. 40, 48), as there is no archaeological evidence for those from the Viking Age and they are unlikely to have appeared before the courtly culture of the High Middle Ages. It is more probable to assume a cloak-tip hanging down from the outstretched arm (Lindqvist 1941/42 I, p. 77; Oehrl 2019a, p. 177). Such hanging tips of a cloak in connection with an ankle-length garment are frequently depicted in Carolingian and Ottonian art, such as in the depiction of King David in the Montpellier Psalter (Bibl. Montpellier Ms. 409; also called the Tassilopsalter – Dannheimer/Dopsch 1988, p. 351, fig. 240) or the coronation image of the Regensburg Sacramentary (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München Clm 4456, fol. 11r – Weinfurter et al. 2002, pp. 17–20, 269–270, fig. 2), to name two relevant examples.
GP 244 Lokrume kyrka
GP0258
GP0252
GP 532 Träkumla kyrka 1
GP 280 När Smiss I
GP0397

Interpretation of the Imagery ⓘ
It remains unclear whether the men are merely raising and shaking hands, in the sense of a ceremonial greeting or perhaps an act of oath taking, or whether they are perhaps holding drinking vessels in their hands with which they toast each other (Oehrl 2019a, pp. 62, 169 fn. 1508). Depictions of ceremonial drinking, which also seems to include a kind of oath taking, can be seen on GP 252 Lärbro Tängelgårda IV and GP 532 Träkumla kyrka I, with the drinkers wearing the same ceremonial costumes with long robes and hanging cloaks that also characterise the men of Sandegårda II. Depictions of otherworldly drinking parties in Oðinn’s Valhǫll have also been considered, against the background of the importance of eschatological ideas in the iconography of the Gotlandic picture stones. For more details concerning these interpretations, see the relevant articles (and Oehrl 2019a, pp. 169–180). Alternatively, a duel could be depicted, similar to the image of När Smiss I, or a ritual clashing of weapons, as has been suggested for the swordsmen on GP 258 Lärbro Tängelgårda I and GP 252 Lärbro Tängelgårda IV (Schwab 1994, p. 508, fn. 63), although no weapons are clearly visible on the Sandegårda Stone. Besides the Smiss stone, duels are also depicted on GP 209 Klinte Hunninge I and GP 3 Alskog kyrka.
GP0252
GP 532 Träkumla kyrka 1
GP 280 När Smiss I
GP0258
GP0209
GP0003

Type and Dating ⓘ
Mushroom-shaped late-type ʻdwarf stoneʼ, belonging to ʻAbschnittʼ C according to Lindqvist (1941/42 I, p. 44), who dates those stones to the time around AD 700. Current research, however, tends to date the Type C/D monuments roughly to between the 8th century (or rather around AD 800) and the 10th century. According to Martin Rundkvist’s (2012, p. 160) typology, the stone’s shape represents Type dwarf4, which occurs in his period 4, i.e., Late Vendel Period. The best parallels concerning iconography are among the large stones that Lindqvist ascribes to his Lärbro group (see VI and VII).

References ⓘ
Lindqvist 1941/42 I, pp. 42, 48, 94, 117, 121, figs. 106, 118–119; II, p. 110; Schwab 1994, p. 508, fn. 63; Thunmark-Nylén 1995–2006 IV:2, p. 616; Toplak 2011, pp. 40, 48; Oehrl 2019a, pp. 62, 169 fn. 1508, 177, 289, fig. 28b.

 ⓘ
Fyndplats
Bildsten påträffades 1929 liggande på gravfältet vid gården. Stenen överlämnades samma år till Gotlands museum.

Nuvarande lokalisering
Utställd i Bildstenshallen på Gotlands museum.

Beskrivning
Sen dvärgsten (period C/D), 107 cm hög och som bredast 63,5 cm. Spår av en fläta som delar stenen i två bildfält. I det övre bildfältet en svastika och därunder två motställda män, som verkar skaka hand. I det nedre bildfältet en oklar människofigur överst och under denna tre män, varav två skakar hand och en håller upp sin hand mot de två andra.

Inskrift
Ingen inskrift

Datering
Kan inte dateras med säkerhet, men tillhör perioden cirka 700-900-talen.

Tolkning
Ingen klar tolkning.

AA

Title
GP 346 Sanda Sandegårda II

Gotlands Museum ID ⓘ
C6990

Jan Peder Lamm ID
217

Lindqvist Title ⓘ
Sanda, Sandegårda II


Last modifed Jun 25, 2024

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Identifier: GP0346-3D
ID: 4877
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Part 1 depth:https://gotlandicpicturestones.se/files/original/837ae213aa9ef7be103597662c0b1d70794ff41e.nxz
Part 1 RGB:https://gotlandicpicturestones.se/files/original/b2a911f6ca2e690e76e2c4c33c003eae3a59b370.nxz