GP 409 Stenkyrka kyrka 20

Context and Discovery
There is no information about the find circumstances of this fragment available. All that can be said is that it may have been found in Stenkyrka church after Lindqvist’s book was published. In “Gotlands Bildsteine”, Sune Lindqvist (1941/42 II, pp. 115–118) lists nine picture stones from Stenkyrka church. By contrast, the list put together by Jan Peder Lamm in 2003 contains no fewer than 40 new discoveries (Lamm/Nylén 2003, nos. 238–276, 425, 426). The unusually large number of stones found not only in the church, but in the entire parish, is an indicator of the political and religious position that Stenkyrka probably already held even before the first church was built (see Roosval 1914, p. 5). Many of the new finds from the church were discovered during a large-scale restoration, which was carried out in 1954/55 according to plans by the architect Rolf Bergh. This is perhaps also the case with stone no. 20.

The earliest church at this place was probably a wooden building that was replaced by a stone church in the first half of the twelfth century. The foundations of the first stone church were discovered beneath the floor of the current church, built during the thirteenth century. The tower with its portal was erected between 1280 and 1310 (on the building’s architectural history, see Roosval 1911, pp. 84–86; 1914, pp. 1–52, esp. 21–24; Lagerlöf/Svahnström 1991, pp. 239–243).

Measurements, Material and Condition
This roughly rectangular fragment represents the upper left corner of an early-type picture stone. It preserves an approximately 58 cm long section of the slightly convex upper edge of the monument and about 40 cm of the very slightly concave left lateral edge. The corner in between is hardly accentuated. The remaining two sides are broken edges. The two preserved narrow sides are hewn at approximately right angles to the obverse but appear a little rough. The lateral narrow side is slightly damaged. The surface must once have been quite irregular, as evidenced by some unattractive deeper areas in the lower part, but today it is completely abraded and smooth. As a result, only faint remains of the decorations are identifiable. The heavy abrasion suggests that the stone may once have served as a floor covering or step.

Description of Ornament and Images
A double groove runs along the lateral and top edges, forming the only border decoration. The entire surface appears to have been framed in this way. Due to the abrasion, the grooves are hardly visible. From Stenkyrka church comes many small fragments with double grooves on the edge, some of which probably belong to one and the same monument.

Interpretation of the Imagery
No interpretation

Type and Dating
Fragment of a tall early-type picture stone, ʻAbschnittʼ A according to Lindqvist’s typology, dating to circa AD 400–600. The simple border decoration consisting of a double groove that frames the entire surface of the monument, including the upper edge of the picture stone, has some correspondences in the material, but this is too insignificant for a more precise assignment to a subgroup. However, the slab could also represent a kerbstone of the Västkindetypus, which is named after GP 548 Väskinde kyrka IV and characterized by pairs of linear grooves at the edge of the obverse as only decorative elements (Lindqvist 1941/42 I, p. 33).
GP 548 Väskinde kyrka IV

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