GP 551 Väskinde Butter

Context and Discovery
The stone fragment was found at the beginning of the 20th century in a field about 100 m north of Själsö, close to the beach (RAÄ 160:1). Excavations in May 1981 revealed that there must have been an Iron Age cemetery in this area, on which the stone was probably placed or re-used as part of a grave construction (ATA dnr 5938-1986). The explored area of 80 x 20 m is located about 150 m north-northeast of the picture stone site and contained four cairns (gravrösen) and five circular stone settings (RAÄ 109:1). North of the area there are three other stone settings (RAÄ 58: 1–3). In addition, six human skeletons were discovered within the area and a little further north (SHM 32426). These burials were apparently largely without grave goods; only a bronze ring and two bone needles were found. In 2008, a second area of about 8500m2 was explored (RAÄ 109:2), about 75 m east of the picture stone site and about 55 m south of the area explored in 1981 (Widerström/Carlsson 2008; ATA dnr 321-197-2010). These excavations revealed three burials, two cremations and an empty grave, four postholes of unknown age and a filled drainage trench. The constructions suggest a use of at least 100 years, from the 9th century to the 10th century. However, the exact extent of the cemetery remains unclear. The graves are oriented north-south.

Measurements, Material and Condition
It is a fragment, namely the almost complete head of a mushroom-shaped dwarf stone, which has a size of about 0.40 x 0.43 m. The lower edge and the two corners of the picture stone head are missing, and small parts of the face are also broken off. At the bottom left, a larger piece is broken out of the existing head part. This part, on which the front extremities of the shown animal figure (see VI) were visible, is present on the drawing of Olof Sörling (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, fig. 564), but the line of fracture is already inscribed. Today the fragment can no longer be found. The entire surface of the stone slab is strongly marked by fossil inclusions. The picture stone consists of bioclast-rich oncoid limestone. The bioclasts are predominantly crinoids, which are visible on the entire picture stone and form a rough surface. The relief fields only raise slightly from the background (max. 1 mm). Thus, they are not discernible in all details. However, the carvings seem to be relatively fresh.

Description of Ornament and Images
In “Gotlands Bildsteineˮ Lindqvist provides an undated drawing of the fragment by Olof Sörling (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, fig. 564) and a photograph of the painted stone, printed in miniature size (ibid. I, fig. 65). A photograph taken in 1933 showing the same painted surface can be found in the photo collection of Antikvarisk-topografiska Arkivet (ATA) in Stockholm (Bildstenar Gotland 28, Tingstäde–Ö, Foto 1751:22,b).

The approximately semi-circular image area framed by a simple step pattern is occupied by a cervid with large antlers. The visible beam (main shaft of the antler) runs approximately parallel to the back of the animal and reaches to its end. Immediately on the head of the cervid, a short tine descends horizontally forward and can therefore be identified as a brow tine. Consequently, a short, almost vertically upwardly extending tine right next to it can be referred to as the bez tine. At least three much longer tines follow the length of the back at some distance, running almost vertically upwards. Shovel-shaped antlers are not visible. Therefore, we are surely dealing with a red deer and not with a bull moose. Between the tines the artist has left triangular background areas, which makes it difficult to recognize the antlers at first sight. Lindqvist marked some of these triangles in colour. Even behind the red deer he painted some raised parts, which, however, cannot be reasonably recognised. Sörling’s drawing shows the antlers in less detail than Lindqvist’s painting, but the rear part of the animal appears more clearly, with a long tail – which is not zoologically correct. Incidentally, at Sörling’s time, the front extremities were still recognisable in almost their full length; today, the corresponding surface has been broken out. It is already missing from Lindqvist’s 1933 photograph.

From the mouth of the deer hangs an elongated structure, which can be interpreted in different ways. In Sörling’s drawing this band merges into an indistinct vegetal-looking branch with numerous extensions. Lindqvist’s painting seems to mark a split end at the hanging tip of the ribbon, reminiscent of a snake’s head with an open mouth or a split tongue. At the same time, however, the band seems to continue to the right to curl up in front of the deer’s neck. Lindqvist sees it as a “[...] ornamental veränderte Zunge [...]ˮ (ʻornamentally altered tongueʼ) (Lindqvist 1941/1942 I, p. 143). The interpretation is made considerably more difficult by the fact that the wormlike band coming out of the deer’s mouth is connected to a shapeless part, which is located in front of the deer, in the left corner of the picture field, and according to Lindqvist contains two triangles. This raised area consists mainly of fossil inclusions but shows isolated traces of carvings and is difficult to assess.

Based on the RTI method and using 3D models, Oehrl (2019a, pp. 162–163, pls. 160–165) documented and discussed five different interpretations of the band-shaped structure at the deer’s mouth, some of which also include the unclear area in front of the deer. Depending on the viewing and illumination angle, the extension appears sometimes shorter, sometimes longer. Sometimes it curls up, runs S-shaped or loop-shaped. Regardless of which point of view is preferred, it should either be the oversized tongue of the animal or a snake. The latter is more likely to be the case, given the widely scattered iconographic parallels and literary traditions, which are outlined below.

Interpretation of the Imagery
The stone can be regarded as early Nordic evidence of the motif ʻsnake-eating deerʼ (so already Leppäaho 1948, p. 52; Heizmann/Steuer 1999, p. 601; Heizmann 2011, fn. 152; in detail Oehrl 2019a, pp. 163–168, pls. 166a–167e). According to ancient natural history (e.g., Pliny, Flavius Josephus, Oppian; see Domagalski 1990, pp. 151–151) deer and snake are enemies; the deer searches for the snakes in their hiding places, takes them out of their holes by snorting or sucking and devours them. This alleged natural history ʻobservationʼ (in truth the red deer does not eat snakes – for the possible zoological background of this successful misunderstanding see Dittrich 1985) is taken up by the Church Fathers (e.g., Augustine, Origines, Gregory the Great, Ambrose, Jerome, Isidor of Seville; see Domagalski 1991, cols. 575–577; Gerlach 1970, cols. 286) and interpreted in Christian terms. The deer that persecutes and eventually kills the serpent is referred to Christ’s victory over the devil. After eating the snake, the deer was threatened with death and had to go to a well. After enjoying the fresh water, the deer regenerates itself and recovers. In the early Christian interpretation, this process is seen as an allegory of the resurrection. The deer, which must drink water after consuming the serpent, has also been associated with Psalm 41:2 since Augustine and is understood as a symbol of baptism: Sicut areola praeparata ad inrigationes aquarum sic anima mea praeparata est ad te Deus – ʻAs the deer roars for fresh water, so my soul, God, cries to you.’

The late antique-Christian interpretation and use of the deer-snake motif becomes common knowledge in the Middle Ages (Clermont-Ganneau 1901, pp. 319–322; Puech 1949; Ettinghausen 1955; Gerlach 1970; Kolb 1971; Domagalski 1990, pp. 151–160; Heizmann/Steuer 1999, pp. 600–601; Wamers 2000, pp. 149–155). An outstanding role in the transmission of these and other Christian animal conceptions plays the Physiologus written in Greek between the 2nd and 4th century (for the history of tradition see Henkel 1976 [about the deer there especially pp. 186–187] as well as Dolcetti Corazza 1992 and 2003 with literature and editions). Over many centuries, from Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages to modern times, this text experienced an eminent spread and gained central importance. The Physiologus is translated into numerous languages, of particular importance are the Latin versions, which probably already existed in Late Antiquity and have been written down since the 8th/9th century. The significance of the Physiologus is reflected not least in medieval pictorial art (Henkel 1976, pp. 104–105; Romanske Stenarbejder vol. 2, 1984).

Numerous late antique and early medieval depictions of deer could be cited as contemporary parallels to the picture stone from Väskinde Butter. All the pictures mentioned below show a red deer with antlers, stepping on a snake or being entwined by one and biting its body at the same time. Of the examples of the Eastern Mediterranean region, the floor mosaic of the 5th century in the Palatium Magnum in Constantinople deserves special mention (Domagalski 1990, p. 154, pl. 26c). There is also a snake-eating deer on the floor mosaics of a chapel in the Byzantine city of Theodorias in present-day Libya (Qasr El-Lebia) (ibid. pp. 156–159, pls. 27b, 28), the cathedral of Apameia in present-day Syria (ibid. p. 156; pl. 27a) and in the baptistery of Henchir Messaouda in present-day Tunisia (ibid. p. 159, pl. 29b; Puech 1949), all of which date to the 6th century. Wamers brings a privately owned Byzantine buckle fitting into play (Wamers 1986, pp. 19, 22, fig. 14, 15; 2000, pp. 150–151, fig. 6). The piece probably originates from the Balkan region and is dated between AD 550 and 650. Two gold bracteates from a Merovingian row grave cemetery (Reihengräberfeld) in Regensburg, district of Sallern, may also be mentioned, which originally came from Northern Italy and probably represent Langobardic products of the 7th century (Koch 1968, pp. 207–208, pls. 85:17–18; Angerer 1995, p. 33 cat. no. 3.31).

The antagonism between deer and snake is, however, also attested early in the North itself (Oehrl 2019a, pp.167–167; Pesch 2015a, pp. 375–376; 2015c; Arents/Eisenschmidt 2010, pp. 130–131; Heizmann/Steuer 1999, pp. 600–601; Heizmann 2011, p. 564 fn. 152; Nordland 1949, p. 120; Leppäaho 1948). Dated between AD 475 and 500 (group H2, Axboe 2011, pp. 280–281), the gold bracteate IK 166 Skrydstrup-B shows, next to the central divine figure, a red deer stepping on two intertwined snakes, one of which, with its mouth open, turns threateningly towards the genitals of the deer. Heizmann summarises the statement of the bracteate picture as follows: “Der bildlichen Darstellung dieser lebensbedrohenden Schlangenattacke antwortet die runische Wortüberlieferung mit der Versicherung von Rettung und Heil. Denn gegen diesen perfiden Angriff ist ein Kraut gewachsen. Seinen Namen teilt der Brakteat über dem Rücken des Hirsches mit dem runischen Wort laukar ʻLauch’ mit. Diese Pflanze rühmen die mittelalterlichen Schriftzeugnisse des Nordens als Panacee und Lebenskraut. Der Hirsch, so lehrt die antike und mittelalterliche Naturkunde, kennt das rettende Kraut und vermag damit die tödliche Bedrohung abzuwehrenˮ (ʻTo the pictorial depiction of this life-threatening snake attack, the runic word lore responds with the assurance of salvation. For against this perfidious attack a herb has grown. Its name is given by the bracteate above the deer’s back with the runic word laukar ʻleek’. This plant is praised by the medieval writings of the north as a panacea and life herb. Ancient and medieval natural history teaches that the deer knows the healing herb and is thus able to ward off the deadly threatʼ) (Heizmann 1999b, p. 245; cf. Heizmann 2011, pp. 550–578, esp. 563–568). It is quite conceivable that the Christian deer tradition affects the amulet image of Skrydstrup. Christian influence on the iconography of the gold bracteates can be demonstrated at various levels (von Padberg 2011, pp. 612–627).

Bailey sees a comparable depiction on the relief-ornamented stone slab of Gosforth, known as the ʻFishing Stoneʼ, from the first half of the 10th century (Bailey 1980, p. 132, pl. 36; Bailey/Cramp 1988, pp. 108–110, ill. 332; Kopár 2012, pp. 67–68, fig. 25). It is a part of a frieze or a wall covering which might have belonged to an early church building. Here a deer is depicted (whose antlers have not been preserved, so, of course, the interpretation remains uncertain), which is surrounded by snake bodies, while one of the worms turns threateningly towards the genitals of the four-legged animal. It shows the old motif of the fight between deer and snake, which is deliberately placed next to the fishing of the Midgard Serpent by the god Þórr. “The significance of the two panels lies in their complementary nature [...]. In the lower scene a god is shown struggling with evil in a serpent-like form. The same theme is present in the apparent symbolism of the upper scene, which shows a snake struggling with an animal which can be interpreted as a stag/hart; this is a well-recognized Christian symbol of the struggle between Christ or the Christian and the devilˮ (Bailey/Cramp 1988, p. 109).

The deer on the high cross of Gosforth was also included in these considerations – however, it remains quite uncertain whether the web of bands that can be seen (together with a dog/wolf) below the animal represents a snake (Wamers 2000, p. 154 fn. 73, fig. 8.2). The sword fitting from the Lieto-Pitkäsmäki cemetery in south-western Finland, decorated in style II, can also only be included with considerable reservation, since it does indeed depict a red deer and snakes, but these were placed at a spatial distance from each other (Leppäaho 1948, pp. 44–47, fig. 1a–d). The animal pictures on the rune stone of Jelling and the golden horns of Gallehus, which were also sometimes included in the discussion (Hartner 1969, pp. 66–67; Roesdahl 1999, p. 240; Wamers 1999; 2000), must be excluded. They are hardly deer (Heizmann/Steuer 1999, p. 600; Oehrl 2011a; 2015a).

The deer that eats the snake, however, did not appear in the north until the early Viking Age. On the silver coins of combination group 4 (type Hjort A) a stag is depicted as the central figure (Malmer 1966, p. 63, pls. 2:1–4). Directly at the mouth of the animal there is a curled-up snake, whose head touches the deer’s mouth. The coins were probably minted in Haithabu around AD 825. The frequent appearance of signs of the cross on these Viking coins, which can be traced back directly to southern coin designs, shows that Christian influence is to be expected on these coins in addition to decidedly pagan motifs.

Particularly similar to the image from Väskinde is a silver deer figure about 3 cm wide and 2.5 cm high from the urn burial no. 3 at the Viking Age burial site of Grävsted, Skuttunge sn in Uppland (Nordland 1949, p. 120, pl. XII:2; Arents/Eisenschmidt 2010 vol. 1, fig. 59; Oehrl 2019a, p. 166, pl. 167b). The silver deer, which is thought to date from the 10th century, has eyelets on the back indicating that it was attached to clothing. From the mouth of the deer hangs a snake body with head. Apparently, the red deer devours a snake and sucks it in like a spaghetto. A very similar silver deer figure from the time around AD 900 or from the first half of the 10th century, from which the snake has been largely broken off, comes from a woman’s grave (no. 45) of the Flachgräberfeld from Haithabu (Capelle 1968, p. 107 cat. no. 108, pl. 30:2; Arents/Eisenschmidt 2010 vol. 1, pp. 129–131; vol. 2, pl. 9:19). The inhumation burial also contained jewellery with Carolingian plant ornaments and a silver pendant in the form of a coiled snake. The burial, like all the graves of the cemetery, was oriented east-west. Only 21% of those buried here received grave goods, most of them only a single item. The graveyard could therefore be addressed as Christian (ibid. vol. 1, pp. 288–298).

On the picture stones of ʻAbschnittʼ B, to which the fragment of Butter also belongs, other deer representations can be seen (see also Oxenstierna 1954). The most important of these is GP 74 Endre skog. This stone depicts a red deer over which an intertwined snake is positioned. More deer, but without snakes, are shown on the Type B picture stones GP 28 Bara Nederbjärs II and GP 215 Kräklingbo Smiss IV. It should also be considered whether the quadruped on the fragment GP 164 Halla Broa XV should be understood as a deer that sucks in a snake with its mouth. Lindqvist describes the representation as follows: “Das Pferd scheint über das spitze Ende einer aus der einen Ecke des Feldes aufsteigenden Stange zu beißen (wenn man nicht annehmen will, dass es mit einer abnorm langen Zunge versehen istˮ (ʻThe horse seems to bite over the pointed end of a pole rising from one corner of the field [unless one assumes it has an abnormally long tongue]ʼ) (Lindqvist 1941/1942 II, p. 65). On the late-type picture stone GP 98 Garda kyrka II can be seen two facing moose, which have a figure-of-eight-shaped loop – maybe a snake? (Nordland 1949, p. 120; Hartner 1969, p. 66–67; Heizmann/Steuer 1999, p. 601) – between their mouths.

The question whether the deer with the snake of Väskinde Butter as well as the representations of GP 74 Endre skog and GP 98 Garda kyrka II go back directly to Christian ideas and models or represent a tradition largely independent of the South cannot be answered with certainty. Lindqvist and Böhner proposed that Christian models do indeed have an influence on the iconography of the Gotlandic picture stones of ʻAbschnittʼ B. This refers above all to the waterfowl appearing in pairs, which probably go back to Christian depictions of pigeons on late antique and early medieval gravestones, especially in the Rhineland (Lindqvist 1964, pp. 64–65; Böhner 1968, pp. 187–190, figs. 92–93; 1987, pp. 458–460, fig. 19). For more information see GP 276 När Rikvide I. Further Type B stones with depictions of aquatic birds are GP 277 När Rikvide 2, GP 129 Hablingbo Stenstu, GP 142 Halla Broa VII, GP 165 Halla Broa XVII, GP 10 Alva St. Ringome, GP 96 Garda Smiss I, GP 274 Norrlanda Bringes, GP 200 Hemse Lindvide, and the Type B picture stone from Grobin (Petrenko 1991; Lamm 1991; Lamm/Nylén 2003, pp. 210–211).

However, direct Christian influence does not need to be assumed necessarily in order to understand the deer-snake motif of Väskinde Butter. The idea of the antagonism of deer and snake, which was already common knowledge before the church fathers appropriated it and before the Christian interpretation of the Physiologus, seems to have been known early in the North as well, to which the gold bracteate of Skrydstrup bears witness. The motif may initially have been handed down in the North without decidedly Christian influence until the early Viking Age, when it appears, for example, in the pagan cremation burial of Grävsted in Uppland and on the Haithabu coins. However, during the Viking Age at the latest, the motif must have been confronted with comparable Christian interpretations of nature and finally also been interpreted as Christian. This probably also was the case of the deer appliqué from the inhumation cemetery of Haithabu.
GP 74 Endre skog
GP 28 Bara Nederbjärs II
GP 215 Kräklingbo Smiss IV
GP 164 Halla Broa XV
GP 98 Garda kyrka II
GP 276 När Rikvide (I)
GP 277 När Rikvide 2
GP 129 Hablingbo Stenstu
GP 142 Halla Broa VII
GP 165 Halla Broa XVII
GP 10 Alva St. Ringome
GP 96 Garda Smiss I
GP 274 Norrlanda Bringes
GP 200 Hemse Lindvide

Type and Dating
The fragment represents the head of a mushroom-shaped picture stone, whose small size and simple border pattern (highly simplified square braid, stepped meander) refer to Lindqvist’s ʻAbschnittʼ B (Lindqvist 1941/1942 I, pp. 35–40). Due to the fragmented state, which does not allow the concrete shape of the head corners to be recognised, Lindqvist does not dare to assign the stone to the subgroups he has defined. The stones of ʻAbschnittʼ B, which are exclusively so-called dwarf stones of maximum 1.00 m height, are dated according to Lindqvist to the 6th to 7th century (ibid. p. 117). The stone from Väskinde Butter must therefore, if the cemetery is provisionally dated to the 9th to 10th century, have been re-used in a Viking Age grave, as are many of the picture stones in ʻAbschnittʼ B (Rundkvist 2012).

References
Lindqvist 1941/42 I, fig. 65; II, p. 143, fig. 564; Leppäaho 1948, p. 52; Oxenstierna 1954, p. 330, fig. 7; Heizmann/Steuer 1999, p. 601; Heizmann 2011, p. 564 fn. 152; Oehrl 2011a, p. 76; Guber 2011, pp. 57, 156 cat. no. 93; Oehrl 2019a, pp. 161–168, pls. 159a–165b.

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