GP 442 Stenkyrka kyrka 50

Context and Discovery
The stone is incorporated into the steps leading up to the western tower portal of Stenkyrka church. Four limestone slabs form the first step, two large stones in the middle and two small ones at the sides. The large stone to the right (south) is the picture stone fragment.

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).

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 were discovered during a large-scale restoration, which was carried out in 1954/55 according to plans by the architect Rolf Bergh. The stones Stenkyrka kyrka 50 and GP 441 Stenkyrka kyrka 49, however, were found in 1983 by Beata Böttger-Niedenzu. In 1982, she submitted her master’s thesis on Gotland’s picture stones to the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, and during the years 1981 to 1985, she visited the Gotlandic rural churches, discovering not fewer than 38 previously unknown picture stones, which she published in a brief catalogue in 1988.
GP 441 Stenkyrka kyrka 49

Measurements, Material and Condition
The rectangular block is 1.16 m long and has a visible width of 0.39 m. The fragment probably is even wider, as a significant part of the stone is hidden by the upper step of the portal which lies on top of it. The limestone is predominantly light grey but a bit reddish at some points. In the left half of the stone a crack runs through the entire width of the block, dividing it into two pieces. There are some rough structures and depressions of natural origin in the surface, but otherwise it is almost completely worn and smooth.

Description of Ornament and Images
There are only a few but clearly discernable carved lines left in the very southern part of the surface. They in all probability represent the poor remains of a rhombic pattern, which indicates the sail of a lost ship depiction.

Interpretation of the Imagery
No interpretation

Type and Dating
The poor remains of a checkered sail and the dimensions of the monument most probably indicate a picture stone of Type C/D. Thus, the stone can be roughly dated to between the 8th century or about AD 800 and the 10th century.

References
Böttger-Niedenzu 1988, p. 13.

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