GP 393 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XIV

Context and Discovery
The necropolis of Lillbjärs (or Lilla Bjärs, sometimes just Bjärs, also as Bjers), in Stenkyrka parish is one of the largest and most important grave fields on Gotland (RAÄ Stenkyrka 26:1; Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 118; Thunmark-Nylén 1995–2006 III:2, p. 627). It includes more than 1000 visible stone settings (rösen and other circular or almost circular stone mounds), as well as a ship-shaped stone setting from the Bronze Age (5 x 2.25 m), and a monumental (17 m in diameter) grave mound called ʻÄuglehaugʼ (or ʻUgglehaugʼ), which probably dates to the Migration Period. An old path of about 550 m leads through the entire area in an east-west direction. Many of the graves were robbed; only a small number have been excavated, including about a dozen dating to the Viking Period. Remarkable features of the stone mounds are a surrounding dry-stone wall consisting of several layers of limestone slabs, as well as the frequent occurrence of grave orbs (large spherical stones) (gravklot), erected stone slabs, and picture stones in the immediate context of the (Vendel or Viking Period) graves (ibid. pp. 582–583). Lindqvist published nineteen picture stones from this grave field – GP 369–373, 377–381, 388–396, 429–431, 440 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs I–XIX.

“In November 1908, O. V. Wennersten reported in a letter to the National Antiquarian that a local, Emil Svensson in Tune, had discovered three picture stones on the ground belonging to Lillbjärs and taken custody of them. […] On this occasion, the antiquarian Emil Eckhoff visited the find place during the following summer and sent to SHM the stones [Stenkyrka Lillbjärs I–VI] as well as three fragments of another slab, which, however, did not clearly represent a picture stone. He also collected numerous grave orbs (gravklot) […]. In 1911, [Fredrik Nordin] visited the site and was given more information by Svensson about the find place and the circumstances of the discovery of the stones […]. When [Fredrik Nordin] returned in 1913 to conduct excavations, Svensson in the meantime had moved away, and unfortunately, it turned out to be impossible to locate all the find places described by him” (ibid.). Nordin excavated a number of stone settings in 1913 as well as during the following summer and discovered eight more picture stones in situ (Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VII–XIV). Between 1910 and 1912, three more picture stones were reported to Gotlands Museum by Svensson and moved to Visby where they are still kept today (Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XV–XVIII). Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XIX was found later, in 1927.

Most of the picture stones from Stenkyrka church presumably came from the Lillbjärs cemetery as well. Nevertheless, the stock of picture stones from this site can by no means have been recorded completely, and there is good reason to believe that this grave field in the future will provide even more discoveries (cf. Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 118).

The stones X–XIV were discovered by Fredrik Nordin during investigations conducted in 1913 and 1914 and delivered to Statens Historiska Museum in 1916 (Fornvännen 1917, p. 15; Lindqvist 1941/42 II, pp. 118–121). The picture stone slab Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XIV was found in 1914 during Nordin’s excavation of grave mound no. 25, next to its walled edge, wedged between mound no. 23 and the wall edge of the adjoining stone mound towards the east (ibid. II, pp. 121, 126, figs. 509; see also Nordin’s report in ATA dnr 599/16). The mound no. 23 was 4 m in diameter and its surrounding wall consisted of 7 to 20 layers of limestone slabs (Thunmark-Nylén 1995–2006 IV:2, p. 662). Lindqvist (1941/42, p. 121) notes: “Grave 25 was investigated but its interior did not yield any finds. Just outside of the southwest edge of the wall, however, there lay a knife with broad back of a type common among Gotlandic grave finds of the 8th century, and at the wall’s east edge, wedged into the narrow gap to the neighbouring walling, the picture stone No. XIV. The wall of grave 25 was 58 cm high here. The picture stone lay 35 cm below the wall’s upper edge. Several indeterminable iron fragments were also observed.” The finds are kept in SHM (15645:13a–b).

Lindqvist (1941/42 II, p. 126) notes that the stone was not traceable at his time. He only reproduces a quite coarse sketch-like drawing by Olof Sörling (ibid. fig. 516; see VI). The monument is still lost. However, a photo of the stone taken by B. Bergman in 1927 is kept in ATA’s Run- och bildstenssamling (1290:43; dnr 5007/27). The caption reads: “På en grav vid vägen ej långt från Änglehaug” (ʻon a grave at the road not far from [the huge grave mound] Äuglehaugʼ). Interestingly, this brief description of the find spot is almost the same as noted for GP 373 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XIX.
GP 369 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs IV
GP 370 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VII
GP 371 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs IX
GP 372 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XIII
GP 373 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XIX
GP 377 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIa
GP 378 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIb
GP 379 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIc
GP 380 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VId
GP 381 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIe
GP 388 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs I
GP 389 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs II
GP 390 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs III
GP 391 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs V
GP 392 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIII
GP 394 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XV
GP 395 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XVII
GP 396 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XVIII
GP 429 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XVI
GP 430 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XI
GP 431 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs XII
GP 440 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs X

Measurements, Material and Condition
“This stone – which broke in two during its retrieval and was damaged at its right edge – could not be found again. According to [Fredrik Nordin’s] notes, it was of rough limestone with scattered harder areas and had a maximum width of 4 cm. Its total height was 60 cm, the width of the head was 29.5 cm, that of the neck 25.5 cm, that of the bottommost part 32.5 cm” (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 126). In the photo taken in 1927 (see IV), the slab lies on a grass-covered ground and seems to still be preserved in one piece. Its surface seems weathered and partly overgrown with lichen. Apart from the small broken-off piece at the right edge of the stone’s neck and perhaps a part of the root, the monument seems to have been almost completely preserved. The mushroom shape had been easily discernible.

Description of Ornament and Images
Lindqvist only provides a sketch-like drawing produced on silk paper by Olof Sörling (II, fig. 516). It depicts the crack which appears to divide the head from the stone’s body as well as some scattered lines, which are carefully described by Lindqvist (ibid. p. 127): “Of the decoration, only indistinct remains survive. At a distance of 6.5 cm, two parallel lines run along the left edge, two more, also running parallel to each other, were just inside of the upper edge. The stone likely also had a border with double demarcation lines. A square shape like a small sail was also observed at the transition of neck and head.”

Interpretation of the Imagery
No interpretation

Type and Dating
Mushroom-shaped late type ʻdwarf stoneʼ, which means ʻAbschnittʼ C/D or E according to Lindqvist. Those stones, if almost no decoration is left, can only be roughly dated to the period between the 8th century and around AD 1100. Next to the stone mound, a knife was found (see IV), which Lindqvist believed to date to the late Vendel Period (8th century). For unclear reasons, Sonja Guber regards the stone as a Type B monument (2011, p. 148 cat. no. 77).

References
Fornvännen 1917, p. 15; Lindqvist 1941/42 II, pp. 121, 126–127, figs. 509, 516; Guber 2011, p. 148 cat. no. 77.

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