GP 572 Eksta kyrka

Context and Discovery
The fragment was identified by Beata Böttger-Niedenzu in 1983. Böttger-Niedenzu, who submitted her master’s thesis on Gotland’s picture stones to the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich in 1982, went through all Gotlandic rural churches during the years 1981–1985 and discovered no fewer than 38 previously unknown picture stones, which she published in a brief catalogue in 1988.

The stone from Eksta which, strangely enough, is not registered in Jan Peder Lamm’s list, was re-used as threshold stone of the old Romanesque portal in the southern wall of the nave, the wall base and the jambs resting on the stone’s surface. The portal is located leftmost in the wall, next to the tower, while a new Gothic portal is placed in its middle. The portal was walled up during the middle of the 19th century and uncovered in 1947 (ATA dnr 3920-1947). The walls of the nave represent the oldest preserved parts of the building, dating to around 1200. The tower was erected in the 13th century. An old Romanesque apsidal choir was pulled down around 1300 and replaced by an extension of the nave. However, large parts of the church were rebuilt during the 19th century.

Measurements, Material and Condition
The visible part of the slab, which forms the doorstep in front of the portal, measures ca. 2.45 m in length and 0.84 m in width. The limestone is light grey with many fossils. It seems to represent approximately the right-hand third of a mushroom-shaped picture stone whose head part is still discernable. The stone is placed with its fragmented head lying in the east and its bottom part in the west. The very bottom and the entire head part are placed underneath the jambs of the portal and the wall base of the nave, while the middle left (i.e., northern) part of the picture stone is lying behind the wooden door which cannot be opened. Therefore, the stone’s total size and exact shape cannot be determined. Böttger-Niedenzu (1988, p. 5) considers it possible that the slab represents a complete picture stone. However, at least the south-facing side was straightened and the edge area reworked in order to get an even step. As a result, only a relatively small part of the surface, i.e., the actual tread of the step, can be examined at all. It is very much worn by footsteps, and a crack runs through the entire width, dividing the stone into a western and an eastern half. Parts of the original (quite rough) surface bearing the bas-relief are only preserved in the most western and eastern areas of the tread, right next to the base of the jambs.

Description of Ornament and Images
In the left (western) edge area of the tread, next to the base of the jamb, clear remains of chiseled background fields are discernable. A row of two or three triangles can be confirmed, pointing to the east, i.e., to the stone’s top. As Böttger-Niedenzu (1988, p. 5) noted, this pattern is likely to represent the stylized waves of a lost depiction of a ship (as they are depicted on GP 280 När Smiss I [D] and GP 170 Halla kyrka 5 [C/D]). However, in the north-eastern corner (i.e., the stone’s neck area), a short part of a narrow east-west oriented strap is visible, probably indicating the mast or the frame of the lost ship’s sail. A similar position of the ship, including the triangular waves, can be seen on GP 212 Klinte Klintebys [C] and GP 563 Väte kyrka 2 [C]. The position of the ship in the middle part of the stone, with the sail reaching the picture stone’s neck, is also a special feature of GP 209 Klinte Hunninge I as well as the monuments of the Tjängvide group.
GP 280 När Smiss I
GP 170 Halla kyrka 5
GP 212 Klinte Hunninge (IV) (Klintebys)
GP 563 Väte kyrka 2
GP0209

Interpretation of the Imagery
No interpretation

Type and Dating
The visible size and shape of the stone, which seems to preserve the edge of its typical mushroom head, as well as the bas-relief technique and the triangular elements (waves) indicate a type C picture stone (see VI). Therefore, it can be roughly dated to the 8th century or between ca. AD 800 and 1000. If there had been a depiction of a ship in the middle of the stone’s surface, as suggested above (VI), and as GP 212 Klinte Klintebys [C] provides the best parallel, including the triangular waves, the Eksta monument could be considered to belong to Lindqvist’s ʻKlinte-Gruppeʼ.
GP 212 Klinte Hunninge (IV) (Klintebys)

References
Böttger-Niedenzu 1988, p. 5.

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