GP 433 Stenkyrka kyrka 11

Context and Discovery
The stone was found in the church of Stenkyrka, which is also mentioned in Guta saga (ch. 3; Peel 1999, pp. 10–11). The earliest church at this place was a wooden building that was replaced by a stone structure in the first half of the 12th century. The foundations of the early church were discovered beneath the floor of the current church, built during the 13th century; further remains are preserved in the gable walls of the nave (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). In his book “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, including Stenkyrka kyrka 11, were discovered during a large-scale restoration, which was carried out in 1954/55 according to plans by the architect Rolf Bergh. The restoration report which is kept at ATA (F1 Antikvarisk-topografiska dossierer, Go, Stenkyrka kyrka, 1955) does not contain information about the position in which the stone was encountered in the church wall, when it was built in, or what function it might have served. The 1954/55 finds are largely undocumented and unpublished. An exception is GP 428 Stenkyrka kyrka 46, which was used as an altar slab; it was discussed and published by Lindqvist in 1956.
GP 428 Stenkyrka kyrka 46

Measurements, Material and Condition
The fragment represents the right part of the head of a tall Type C picture stone (Oehrl 2019a, pls. 237a–c). The break line on the left side runs down vertically; at the lower edge, it is irregular. At the lower-right corner, the pointed edge of the characteristic, mushroom-shaped head is missing. The piece is made of limestone and has a maximum height of 0.77 m and a maximum width of 0.57 m. The carved figures in low relief are only slightly raised, less than 1 mm high. Nonetheless, in most cases, the contours of the figures are clearly recognisable, as their smoothed surfaces stand out clearly against the carefully and evenly chiselled rough background. In general, the relief appears rather fresh and does not exhibit significant traces of weathering or abrasion. There are a few small pits and wart-like structures of natural origin, but apart from this, the image area is fairly even and undamaged.

Apparently, some black paint had been applied shortly after the stone’s discovery, but this is now almost completely faded or washed off (Oehrl 2019a, pl. 237b–c). The colour of the right half of the image-bearing surface differs from that of the rest of the stone, as it appears slightly brownish and is surrounded by a thin, dark, and rectangular frame (ibid.). This frame seems to be of dust or soot, but it adheres firmly to the surface and cannot be removed with a hand brush. These differences in colour appear to be due to storage conditions. Possibly, another object – either while the stone was built in the church or during its storage in the museum’s depot – rested on the stone’s obverse for some considerable time. The condition might also indicate that at some unknown moment after the fragment’s discovery, the right part of the image-bearing surface was moulded with latex or silicone. There is, however, no information about such a procedure.

Description of Ornament and Images
Lamm notes in his list that next to the border, there are figurative images, including two women (“I övre fält bl.a. kvinnobilder”). In a photo collection kept at Gotland’s Museum (Bildstenar, N–V, okänd fyndplats [extra foto]) there is a photograph that show the stone with tracings in black paint, which probably was taken soon after the fragment was delivered to the Museum in 1954/55 (Oehrl 2019a, pl. 237a). Attached to the photo are brief details – dimensions, year of discovery, material – as well as a short sentence describing the stone’s images: “Halva överdelen av stenen med bandfläta och 2 scener med människor” (ʻHalf of the upper part of the stone with interlace and two scenes with humansʼ). The tracing, as it can be seen on this photo from the 1950s, reveals the following pictures:

At the remaining edge of the stone’s head, the complex interlace pattern of a border is clearly visible. In the lower part of the fragment, there are the remnants of a wide, horizontal border with an indistinct pattern, which separates two image panels. Of the lower panel, only a small part has survived; on it, there is a small roundel, surrounded by further, but unrecognisable elements. The upper image panel is preserved to its full height, but the left half is gone. A narrow, vertical bar divides the surviving surface into two fields. In the left field, a tall, upright anthropomorphic figure can be seen that could represent a man in a tunic, with a short chin (beard?) and hair or braids ascending to his neck. It might also be a woman, however. The figure is turned to the left, towards further but blurred elements, possibly another vertical border. The figure’s arms are pointed downwards, with the forearms slightly bent. The left forearm appears to merge into a loop-shaped object, while the right touches the vertical border. In the right field, also traced with paint, another human figure is turned to the left, and there is a wide braid down its neck. The figure’s arms hang down and end in stumps at about waist level. From the waist down, this peculiar figure is surrounded with a variety of elongated or wavy, serpentine shapes that cannot be clearly defined and are difficult to describe.

A re-investigation of the stone in 2013, based on RTI-technology and 3D models, produced a modified reading of the imagery (Oehrl 2019a, pp. 212–213, pls. 238a–244b). While emerging quite clearly, the anthropomorphic figure in the left field offers few details. The chin and the long hair, highlighted by paint in the old photograph, cannot be made out with certainty. The most distinct part is the torso, down to about waist level, with the straight arms pointing downwards. The left arm appears to merge into (or be stuck in) a round, disc-shaped object. The end of the other arm could be designed the same way, but it is too vague to determine. As there seem to be no legs, these either have been carved very weakly, or instead a woman in a long dress is depicted. An identification of the figure as a woman is more probable than as a man, but there can be no certainty. Very clear is the vertical divider that in its lower half describes a slight curve. There are remains of a further vertical border to the left of the large anthropomorphic figure near the break. The anthropomorphic figure in the right image field could not be verified by Oehrl; where the head of this figure was supposed to be, only a rough, uneven surface was recorded, and the structure formerly identified as a braid is in fact only an isolated, worm-like shape. Likewise, the alleged arms turned out to be worm-like or serpentine figures. Two such ‘serpents’ can be seen clearly in the lower-right corner, and possibly more in the field’s centre and the lower-left corner. In the lower part of the field, there also is a slightly curled and tapering ribbon, which appears to represent another ‘serpent’. On the other hand, however, it also is reminiscent of the head of a bird of prey with a hooked beak. Two appendices, pointing upwards and downwards, respectively, could be interpreted as wings.

Interpretation of the Imagery
If the object into which the arms of the human figure in the left image field merge can in fact be regarded as a ring, two interpretations are viable: They either are enormous jewellery rings on the woman’s wrists, shown disproportionally large, or shackles tying her hands. There are several examples in early medieval art for the depiction of fetters as rings, both in Christian iconography (notably in the case of the bound Satan) and in late Iron-Age imagery in Northern Europe (Oehrl 2011a, esp. pp. 18–25; 2015a, pp. 469–471). A particularly close example is the fragment of the cross-shaft no. 1 in Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria, England, dated to the tenth century. The bearded man portrayed on it is tied with ring-shaped shackles on hands and feet and (among other ideas) has been interpreted as the bound figure of either Satan or the Norse god Loki (Bailey/Cramp 1988, p. 120, figs. 390–393; Kopár 2012, pp. 84–85, 88, fig. 35; Oehrl 2011a, pp. 126–127 with further references, fig. 237).

If we regard the human figure of Stenkyrka kyrka 11 to be shown both fettered and next to a small rectangular room full of worm- or snakelike animals, the same interpretative options as in the case of GP 209 Klinte Hunninge I, GP 397 Stenkyrka Smiss I, and GP 18 Ardre kyrka VI could be considered (see there, with references). If the figure is male, it could be the hero Gunnarr, who according to the Old Norse tradition of the Nibelung legend met his death in a ‘snake yard’ or snake pit. Possibly the scene depicts the moment just before he is thrown to the snakes or before the snakes are sent into the chamber. Or perhaps the scene deals with the wicked god Loki, who, as told comprehensively by Snorri Sturluson, is punished by the Æsir, tied up in a snake cave, and tormented by a venomous snake. But another interpretation may be the depiction of a post-mortem place of punishment, inhabited by serpents, based on Christian models, as featured in the eddic poem Vǫluspá. If, however, there was a bird with a hooked beak among the worms in the right chamber, this group of animals could be linked to the description of hell in the Old English poem Solomon and Saturn (lines 468–474) of the ninth or tenth century. In it, hell provides not only ‘pale asps’ (blace nædran) and ʻsnake yards’ (wyrmgeardas), but also ʻbloody eagles’ (blodige earnas) for the punishment of Satan and his supporters (van Kirk Dobbie 1968, p. 47).
GP0209
GP0397
GP 18 Ardre kyrka VI

Type and Dating
The form of the head (as far as can be determined) and the pattern of the border indicate a monumental stone of Lindqvist’s ʻAbschnittʼ C, and the design of its interlace pattern and the horizontal partition of the field of the stone’s head is particularly reminiscent of prominent stones of the Lärbro group (GP 253 Lärbro St. Hammars I and GP 255 Lärbro St. Hammars III). Lindqvist dated these picture stones to around AD 700 or the early 8th century, but according to Eshleman (1983), the Lärbro group was strongly influenced by the art of the Carolingian Renaissance and therefore instead should be dated to the period between AD 790 and 840. Archaeological excavations at Type C picture stone sites point to around AD 800 as well (Andreeff 2012). Some runic inscriptions on picture stones of Type C, however, have been dated to between AD 850 and 900 (Gustavson 2012, p. 112 with references), and the runes on the monument GP 244 Lokrume kyrka, which also belongs to Lindqvist’s Lärbro group, might even date to the second half of the 10th century (Källström 2012, p. 127).

It is important to highlight the additional partition of the upper image panel by vertical dividers as an obvious characteristic of Stenkyrka kyrka 11 (Oehrl 2019a, p. 212). A similar treatment is found only once among the Gotlandic picture stones of the ʻAbschnittʼ C– E, namely in the complete monumental stone GP 570 Stenkyrka kyrkogården, which was found in 2007 during excavation work on the churchyard of Stenkyrka. The vertical division of the stone’s head found in both monuments could go back to the design of Romanesque tympana that might be considered as models for picture stones of Type C/D (ibid.; Arrhenius 1970; Andrén 1989, pp. 292–293). These tympana often are heraldically partitioned by vertical picture elements, such as a column, a tree, or Christ in the mandorla. Due to the fact that both picture stones are from the church at Stenkyrka and closely linked by the unusual arrangement of the images in the stone’s head, they might be assigned to the same workshop or school.
GP 253 Lärbro Stora Hammars I
GP0255
GP 244 Lokrume kyrka
GP 570 Stenkyrka kyrkogården

References
Oehrl 2019a, pp. 210–214, pls. 237a–244b.

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