GP 588 Atlingbo kyrka

Context and Discovery
The stone is first mentioned by Efraim Lundmark, who wrote to the National antiquarian about his discovery in 1914. The stone slab had been used as a lintel in the alcove (wall cabinet) in the apse’s north wall (Lindqvist 1941/1942 II, p. 26; GR II, s. G 200; Roosval/Borhn 1942, p. 120). Lundmark showed a trace drawing of the part of the carving visible at that time and asked if it might be possible to do something about access to the parts hidden in plaster.

On 28 July 1923, in connection with the investigations by Otto von Friesen, the stone was removed by A. Edle on behalf of the National Antiquarian. Von Friesen noted that the stone had been chamfered on two sides and probably used for something else before it had been inserted into the alcove (GR II, p. 168, G 200; Roosval/Bohrn 1942, p. 120), implying that it had been reused at least twice. After investigation and photographing by von Friesen, the stone was placed in the inclusorium, the penance cell (G 200). As Sune Lindqvist found no evidence that the runestone originally had the form of a picture stone, he found it most suitable that it should be published together with the inventory of Gotland’s runic inscriptions, which ultimately was the reason for the stone’s removal from the masonry (Lindqvist 1942, p. 26).

In Atlingbo church, there is also a picture stone fragment of type A built into the stairs to the tower (GP 25 Atlingbo kyrka). According to a short note in Gotlänningen on 15 October 1956, two picture stone fragments of the earlier type A were found under the floor in the same church (Gotlänningen, 1956).
LKÅ
GP 25 Atlingbo kyrka (I)

Measurements, Material and Condition
Height 1,33 m, width 0,56 m, thickness 0,25 m. Runes 3–7 cm high. Limestone. The carving surface was polished, the back side is raw. The preserved fragment should be the middle section of a stone at least 2 m high above the ground and with a width of more than 1 m.

One of the long sides and the straight short side were chamfered and polished, 0,1 m wide and 0,4 m deep. The chamfers were made in connection to secondary use. They are clearly seen on a photo by J. W. Hamner from 1923. The opposite long side has a slightly concave shape, fitting the wall of the apse. The stone was shaped like this for the purpose of its third function, when it was built into the apse. The other short side is damaged, and the stone was broken or had been cut into two or more parts (G 200; Fornsök). The carving is well made, and the runes are well shaped (G 200).
LKÅ

Description of Ornament and Images
The stone has an intricate runic ornamentation with a runic serpent intertwined with tendrils and/or additional thin ornamental serpents. We do not know the original shape of the stone, but the horizontal ribbons with runes and the cross standing on them indicate that this had been a mushroom-shaped runestone similar to, e.g., GP 355 Sjonhem kyrka and GP 208 Hogrän kyrka, where there are cross ribbons carrying a runic inscription at the neck of the stone. This stone is more unusual in filling the space between the cross ribbons and the runic serpent below with the body of a dragon intertwined into a figure-of-eight.

The two rune bands by the cross arm resemble the picture stones, but according to Svärdström, the asymmetrical pattern is alien to the picture stones (GR II, p. 168).

This stone gives important testimony to contact between Scandinavia and Byzantium in the late 11th century, as the dragon in the shape of a recumbent figure-of-eight is a clear parallel to the runic ornamentation on the Piraeus lion (now in Venice). The parallel between the designs was noted by Thorgunn Snaedal (Snædal 2014, p. 35).
LKÅ
GP 355 Sjonhem kyrka I
GP0208

Interpretation of the Imagery
No interpretation

Runic Context and Comments
Svärdström calls attention to the unique formulation of the Christian prayer for the soul of the dead. She indicates that it presumes a nuanced religious insight that is rare in inscriptions before the Middle Ages. In her view, the monument is therefore chronologically contradictory: the rune shapes are Viking-Age and no dotted runes appear. The ornamentation is more similar to Uppland runestones than to Gotlandic runestone art and is compared to the carver Öpir’s style (GR II, p. 169). The runic animal arranged horizontally as a figure-of-eight appears on, e.g., U 112 Kyrkstigen and U 116 Älvsunda, both in Ed parish in Uppland.

The stone was scanned in 2013 by Kitzler Åhfeldt by an optical 3D-scanner, ATOS I. The stone was included in an analysis the carving techniques in which a number of Gotland runic picture stones were compared to runestones from the Swedish mainland. Results indicate that for stones in this style group (Pr 4), the carving technique has become more similar to runestones from Uppland and Södermanland than previously (Kitzler Åhfeldt 2019, p. 102, p. 106).
LKÅ

Type and Dating
Type E. Pr 4, c. 1070–1100.

While von Friesen dated the stone to the second half of the 11th century, possibly not long after 1050, Svärdström’s opinion was that the stone is not earlier than c.1100 (GR II, p. 169). The style Pr 4 indicates a dating to c. 1070–1100 (Gräslund 2002, p. 144).
LKÅ

References
Lindqvist 1941/1942 II, p. 26; Jansson 1945, pp. 148–149; GR II, pp. 167–169, G 200; Snædal 2002, p. 78; Källström 2007, pp. 171–172, p. 347.

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