Gotlandic picture stones

The style and iconography of two well-known picture stones are re-analysed. The Hablingbo Havor II picture stone shows a motif that occurs frequently in Gotlandic art from the Vendel Period onwards: the “Water Dragon”. It is suggested that this relates to an ideological connection between the dragon and the sea, where the sea is the dragon that ferries ships to distant shores. This is reflected not only in picture stones, but in Viking Age art in general. The iconography of När Smiss III (the “Snake Witch”) has been interpreted in a variety of ways, but special consideration is given to Peel’s (1999) suggestion that it relates closely to the Vitastjärna myth from the 13th-century Guta Saga. The artistic style of the zoomorphs on both stones (Style II) is typically dated to the Vendel Period. It is suggested that Sune Lindqvist’s insistence that the stones date from before AD 600 comes from a long-standing debate with Nils Åberg over the date and context of the east mound at Uppsala,...

The Guta Saga like the Goths tribal saga speak of a southern emigration from Gotland to the Black Sea area and the Byzantine Empire. We know from Byzantine sources that the Goths settled in the Bosporian Kingdom and took possession of its fleet with which they for some time ravaged in the Mediterranean. As we have seen above, we have, already in the late Bronze Age, Gotlandic trading Emporiums on the Baltic Sea coast where the river roads lead down to the Black Sea and Byzantine Empire. Even at the time when the Guta Saga was recorded, in the early1200s, it is not startling when the author of the Guta Saga notes that in Greece (Crimea belonged to Greece with Miklagarðr, as its capital), there lived a group that “settled and live there and even today they have in their speech track of our language” (note 15).

According to Professor Elias Wessén, Fv 1969 p27: “There are thus several language barriers across the Nordic language area, and the Gothic line thus always agrees with the eastern parts of Scandinavia, mainly Gutnish on Gotland.”
“If the Gotlanders on Gotland and the Goths in the Vistula area originally were the same people they would still in the first centuries CE have spoken substantially the same language, a language in its later development in Southern Europe emerging as Gothic. It is likely that the mother language of the Gothic and forn Gutnish has not differed too much from the contemporary primitive Norse. In any case, the similarities with Gothic is nowhere in the Nordic region as close as in forn Gutnish .“
We can thus follow the Crimean Goths, which Busbecq encountered, from the 200s and all the time until our time. They lived not far from the island Berezan out in the Dnjepr estuary, which the Gotlandic Varangian merchants used as a stopover for river trips and for the voyage across the Black Sea towards Byzantium and Miklagarðr (Constantinople). There has also a Gotlandic picture stone been found.

Jahrgang 1/2021 der Zeitschrift »Archäologie in Deutschland« Frontispiz: Bei Balladoole auf der Isle of Man wurde bei Ausgrabungen 1945 entdeckt, dass hier mehrere einheimische christliche Steinkistengräber durch ein prächtiges Bootsgrab der Wikinger gestört und überdeckt worden waren. Heute ist die Stelle durch eine schiffsförmige Steinsetzung markiert. Titelseite der Buchhandelsausgabe: Gedränge bei einer Reenactment-Schlacht in Wolin, Polen (links) und verschiedene Originalfunde von wikingerzeitlichen Äxten aus Norwegen, neu aufgestielt (rechts). Titelseite AiD-Sonderheft: Der Helm von Gjermundbu ist einer von zwei weitestgehend vollständig erhaltenen Helmen der Wikingerzeit. Er wurde 1943 zusammen mit einer vollständigen Bewaffnung in dem Grab eines hochrangigen Individuums gefunden. Rückseite: Der reich verzierte Griff eines Wikingerschwertes, der auf der Hebrideninsel Eigg in Schottland gefunden wurde, belegt zum einen das ausgeprägte Kunstverständnis und die handwerklichen Fähigkeiten der Wikinger und zum anderen den hohen Stellenwert, den das Schwert in der wikingerzeitlichen Kultur innehatte. Auf dem Gräberfeld von Ire auf Gotland war ein etwa 12 bis 13 Jahre alter Junge mit Schwert, zwei Speeren, einem Pferd und einem Hund in Tradition der vendelzeit lichen Reiterkrieger beigesetzt worden. Runensteine wurden in der späten Wikingerzeit oftmals zur Erinnerung an Verstorbene errichtet. Diesen Stein von Hovgården in Schweden errichtete ein Ehepaar als Denkmal für sich selbst. Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. Das Werk ist in allen seinen Teilen urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlags unzulässig. Das gilt insbesondere für Vervielfältigungen, Übersetzungen, Mikroverfilmungen und die Einspeicherung in und Verarbeitung durch elektronische Systeme. wbg THEISS ist ein Imprint der wbg

This paper deals with the subject of Viking Age iconography as source material for rigging details and sail technology of Viking Age ships. The survey consists of two parts: 1) an iconographical analysis of Scandinavian ship motifs c. 750-1050 AD, in particular motifs from the monumental picture stones of Gotland, but also from coins, rune stones and graffiti. 2) a critical analysis of the methods used in reconstructing Viking Age ships’ rigging and sail during the last 20 years. It is concluded that a major part of the ship motifs are a fairly reliable source of Viking Age ship technology, and that most of the vessels depicted are warships with low and wide square sails. Furthermore it is concluded that the methods used in sail reconstruction are often based too strongly on ethnographical sources; despite the fact that this material does not correspond visually with the ship motifs of the Viking Age. This thesis does not entirely reject the ethno-archaeological reconstruction method, but proposes a more complex perception of Viking Age ships’ sail. It is suggested that the long and slender warships were equipped with low square sails, and that these vessels were not constructed primarily to tack against the wind.

Finally, it can be said that the significance of picture
stones throughout the centuries has undoubtedly been
multifunctional and changing – as territorial marking,
a memorial, preserver of oral tradition, burial site and
religiously charged artefact. The picture stones have
played a key role in the Gotlandic society in the late Iron
Age and early Medieval Period, they were a focal point
for social and ideological communication between the
people of their time.

Around the year 700 travelling Radhanites (later known as Jewish merchants) from Khazaria had founded Kiev (Turkish for “beach settlement”) at the Dnieper River. The place was during the 700s and 800s an outpost for the Khazar Kha- ganate.
As Kiev became an important station on the trade route for the Gotlandic mer- chants on their way from the Baltic Sea to Miklagarðr (Istanbul), the Varangians took Kiev from the Khazarians in 882 and appointed one of their own, Oleg, as ruler. Archaeological excavations show that a line of strong-holds was esta- blished in the Kiev area along the Dnjepr in the last two decades of the 800s. Tax collection was probably a motivation for establishing these strongholds. From Arabic sources we know that one of the al-Rus’ trade routes ended in Miklagarðr where they sold furs and swords.
Garðaríki (Kievan Rus’) was after that ruled by a resident Varangian nobility, that became the nucleus of the Kievan Rus’ polity, whose ‘Golden Age’ was from late 800s to mid 1200s, when it disintegrated after the Mongol invasion. (1237– 1240).
They are referred to as Kievan Rus’ and Garðaríki.

The article offers a discussion of the well-known Weland depictions on the Franks Casket, the gotlandic picture-stone Ardre VIII and the stone crosses of Leeds in Western Yorkshire. The significance of the Leeds carvings is stated and also the less considered image on the Schweindorf rune-solidus is included in the present study. In addition, several less convincing interpretations of former researchers are presented. Finally, previously unknown depictions of Weland the smith on gotlandic picture-stones are provided by the author. One of these monuments seems to depict the legendary smith as part of an afterlife-adventus. Apparently, this smith belongs to the home of the dead -probably Valhall. This would be conclusive in terms of both, the heroic character of Weland and the extraordinary esteem of the smith in germanic antiquity in general.

The Gotland picture stones (dated to c. 400-1100 AD) are among the most spectacular and informative artefacts from the Iron Age and Viking Age to have been discovered in Sweden. The main aim of this paper is to make digital 3D documentation of the Gotland picture stones publicly available for analysis of their motifs, runic inscriptions and weathering processes. The data were collected within the project 3D scanning of the Gotland Picture Stones: Workshops, Iconography and Dating (2006-2008), which includes analyses of these stones by means of a high resolution optical 3D scanner. The aim of the project is to clarify certain basic facts concerning the cutting technique, work organization and surrounding circumstances, iconography and dating. Four main issues are identified: workshops, iconographical interpretations, dating, and finally, documentation and enhanced interpretation of weathered and in places vandalised picture stones. The following report provides a short summary of the main results. The 3D data are provided in STL files that serve as supplementary material to this paper. They are available on the website of the Swedish National Heritage Board: http://3ddata.raa.se

The style and iconography of two well-known picture stones are re-analysed. The Hablingbo Havor II picture stone shows a motif that occurs frequently in Gotlandic art from the Vendel Period onwards: the “Water Dragon”. It is suggested that this relates to an ideological connection between the dragon and the sea, where the sea is the dragon that ferries ships to distant shores. This is reflected not only in picture stones, but in Viking Age art in general. The iconography of När Smiss III (the “Snake Witch”) has been interpreted in a variety of ways, but special consideration is given to Peel’s (1999) suggestion that it relates closely to the Vitastjärna myth from the 13th-century Guta Saga. The artistic style of the zoomorphs on both stones (Style II) is typically dated to the Vendel Period. It is suggested that Sune Lindqvist’s insistence that the stones date from before AD 600 comes from a long-standing debate with Nils Åberg over the date and context of the east mound at Uppsala, and by association, the date of the artistic style found on Hablingbo Havor II and När Smiss III. This debate has been resolved in favour of Åberg’s interpretation. These two picture stones rep- resent an artistic tradition that should be dated conservatively from the beginning of the 5th century AD to the middle of the 7th century AD.

The earlier Gotlandic picture stones are mostly connected with the Iberian peninsula and southern France. The Ibero-Celts are the most likely bearers of the pictorial agenda that is introduced on Gotland for the earlier picture stones.
 In the Iberian peninsula, the Vadenienses, an old Ibero-Celtic people have left very special gravestones, decorated with blades of ivy, corn ears and specially designed horses. It was a people of fighters and horsemen, who to every horse had two warriors, one to ride and the other to fight on foot to help protect the horse and knight. Their most common form of grave decoration during the pre-Christian Roman period is exactly of the same character as the early stones on Gotland. They contain a lot of signs that could be understood as sun and moon. The moon is often made as bulls horns. This whole style is unique for the Iberian peninsula and depends probably on Celtic influence among the Romans.
The Gotlandic picture stones correspond with the pre-Christian stones from 100-300 CE. The Vadenienses worked within the Roman legions, and were also mercenaries fighting for whoever made it worth while. Their fighting techniques have been reported by Roman soldiers who observed it among their German enemies. At other occasions they have also witnessed it with the eastern Goths in the time of Attila. They lived on the Asturian plateau and in the mountains and further on in northern Italy, Austria and Bohemia. They were a travelling people. They might have met the people from Gotland in the Bohemian area (see Marcomannic influence age 81).
We today know of about 570 Gotlandic picture
stones, dated roughly to the period 200-1100. Peter Manneke has shown roots of picture stones that date back to the 1st century in certain cemeteries.
According to Peter Manneke:“The consummate mastery of the stone material from the 300s and 400s in the form of perfect curbed stone circles of dressed sand-and limestone, and technical high-image blocks within these circles presupposes partly unknown, earlier stages on Gotland and partly the fact that the craft as such, came to Gotland from outside. These early stages can be found on Gotland.
The idea to use cut stone as a material for edge- and picture stones and the necessary technical skills came probably from the south and if so, mainly from the vast Roman Empire with its perfect architecture in stone, with whom Gotland had intensive trade and other relations. The idea for the older image blocks and its imagery, with its compass-drawn geometric ornaments, their burdensome ship and its fabulous animals that sometimes have rear-facing heads, probably stems from several areas in the south and southeast.
The findings on the grave-fields, burial forms, etc. indicate that the stones date back to the first century. In the Duero valley in Spain/Portugal e.g. is a picture stone from the first century, showing among other things, two swivel wheels (which is prevalent on the Gotlandic picture stones) and a rosette ornament resembling the basic shape of the Gotlandic highly developed spoke graves with intricate stone circles outside the cairns, especially those at Duckarve in Linde and Barshaldar in Grötlingbo.
The picture stones from the Duero area are from the days when Roman bronzes and silver coins began to appear on Gotland. On Gotland these offshoots of different cultures and design worlds met Celtic, Germanic, Roman and that from the Goths.”

Import of silk
Silk textiles from the Viking age are a small but exclusive group of archaeological finds in Scandinavia. The silk fragments are produced in many different qualities. The majority of silks have been interpreted as either Central Asian or as made in the Byzantine production area, that is in Constantinople, or in associated areas in the eastern Mediterranean region. A few fragments from Birka have been interpreted as Chinese silk. Great emphasis must be placed on the Gotlandic merchants’, the Varangians or Rus as they are called in Arabic sources, strong ties to the Byzantine Empire in the 800s and 900s and thereby the trade on the westernmost of the Russian waterways. Archaeological sources give no reason to believe that the distribution of silk to the Baltic Sea areas is a result of trading along one single route. The two major eastern trading routes
A project at Enköping museum has re- constructed silk fabrics with Islamic patterns along the Russian rivers Dnjepr and the Volga-Oka region are likely routes for the arrival of silk to both Oseberg and to Birka.
In Scandinavia so far 23 archaeological sites with finds of silks dating to the 800s and 900s have been registered, in most cases from graves. This includes  both silk fabrics and silk thread and lan-cores used in embroideries. In addition there are several graves with finds of fibres assumed to be silk but not yet identified. Many of the sites revealed only one or a few fragments of silk. The largest concentration of graves is in Birka in the Lake Mälar area where 49 graves, according to Agnes Geijer, contained silk.
Based on these finds in the graves a project at Enköping museum has re- constructed silk fabrics with Islamic patterns.
The majority of graves containing silk from Birka are dated to the 900s. Of 49 graves, 37 are dated to this period while 12 date to the 800s. The fabric type by Geijer called S4 dominates in both centuries and is the most common type represented in all graves. This is a type of samite with z-spun main warps and weft with no traces of spinning.

The question underlying this investigation is whether Gotland’s Viking-Age Picture stones were the subject of workshops and schools. One way of approaching this is to examine whether the use of templates and cutting techniques might show interrelationships between craftsmen and on this basis discuss different craft traditions. This study will thus examine if and how templates or stencils were used on Gotland’s Viking-Age picture stones and what cutting techniques were applied when reproducing the sails on the picture-stone ships.

A short review of what is published to date about the two boat burials from Salme on the island of Saaremaa (aka Ösel), by their Estonian excavators. The graves were dug in 2008 and 2010/11, respectively. Also some own comments on early sailing in the Baltic and the possible relations to the boats on Gotland's picture stones and other Iron Age craft from the Baltic region. In Swedish.

in ihrem einschlägigen \ü7erk über die \Wikingerzeit Gotlandsa. Bedauerlichervreise sind die Ergebnisse der Grabungen von 1998 bis 2003 fast ausschließlich der Lokalpresse sowie den meist knappen Berichten zu entnehmen, die auf der Internetseite des Projektes (Fröjel Discovery Programme) zur Verfügung gestellt werdens. Jüngst ist in der Zeitschrift'Godändskt Arkiv' ein kleiner Beittag von Ny Björn Gustafsson und Anders Söderberg über die Silberwerkstatt von Fröiel erschienen6. Die Bildsteinhälften befanden sich in Grab 15 des nördlichen Gräberfeldes. Es handelt sich um eine Nord-Süd-odentierte Körperbestattung mit Steinpackung. Unter der Steinpackung wurde die obere Hälfte des Bildsteins aufrecht stehend hinter dem Kopf des Toten angetroffen. Die untere Hälfte der Kalksteinplatte war umgesrürzt und lag mit der Schauseite auf den Füßen des Be statteten. Ursprünglich haben jedoch beide Teile aufrecht mit der Bildfläche nach innen gerichtet gestanden und als Giebelplatten das Kopfbzur. Fußende der Grabkonstruktion markiert. Zusammengesetzt hat der Stein eine Höhe von etsra 145 cm und trägt die für Gotlands späteren Bildsteine typische Schlüsselloch-oder Pilzform. Die maximale Breite im'Wurzelbereich' beträgt rund 90 cm. Der Bildstein ist Sune Lindqvists Gruppe C zuzuweisen, die üblicherweise in das achteT, neuerdings aber in das achte bis zehnteJahrhundert datiert wird8. !(/as das Skelett anbetrifft, so ließ die osteologische Untersuchung auf eine adulte männliche Person schließen. Grabbeigaben waren nicht vothanden. Die Bestattung lässt sich in das zehnteJahrhundert datieren. Über den Fund des Bildsteins von Fröjel wird in den kurzen Onlineberichten vom 2'7.07.1,999 (Report 4) und 08.08. 1999 (Report 5) informiert. Genauere Angaben zur Fundsituation, kaum aber zum Bildstein selbst, sind einem ausfühdicheren Jahresberichte und einer Zusammenfassungl0 für dasJaht 1999 zuentnehmen. Neben 3 DaN CanrssoN, Fröjel Discovery Programmearkeologisk forskning och historieförmedling i förc

The present volume, Norðvegur, deals specifically with fornaldarsögur related material from Scandinavia, outside of Iceland. As the title,
Norðvegur, indicates, the subject matter is closely related to the sources described in the first volume, being the “branch” that travelled the way towards the North and perhaps in some cases, back again.

There is something called the Beowulf epos, from the beginning of the 500s, which is the oldest known Germanic epos, by some regarded as the Germa- nic-speaking peoples counterpart to the Greek Iliad and Odyssey.
Historians and linguists have tried in various ways to interpret and fit the epic into the Swedish history without much success.
However, it is now proven that it has its home in the Gotlandic history. Together with the Gotlandic picture stones and Guta Saga the Beowulf epos constitutes Gotland’s finest historical records.

To understand the history of the Gotlandic Merchant Republic and its Medieval Churches, one must fully realize that Gotland was an independent Merchant Republic, and the hub of the Baltic Sea region, which from time immemorial had its relations mainly east and south and controlled trade on the Russian rivers from time to time. Already 800- 500 BCE Gotlandic merchants had a large trading emporium in Achmulova on the Volga.
The Gotlandic history is misleading and difficult to understand if it is bundled with the Swedish history, that so far has been done.
They both have their separate history.
Gotland only became part of Sweden in 1679.
We know from Arabic writers in the 800s that al- Rus’ were merchants from the island in the Baltic Sea region, who came rowing on the Russian rivers. From there comes later the name Russia.
The Byzantine Patriarch Photius, in a circular letter 867, calls the Gotlandic merchants Rhos.
The etymology of the name al-Rus’/Rhos needs clarification. Many scholars have wrongly maintained that the word al-Rus’ must be identical with the Finnish word Ruotsi and Estonian Rootsi.
Sven Ekbo (1981) convincingly connects the word to Old Norse ro∂r meaning ‘expedition of rowing ships’.
On the Russian rivers in the 800s there were rowing Gotlandic merchants, Varangians, who the Arabic writers accordingly called al-Rus’.
In the Baltic Sea there were no Vikings.
The Gotlandic merchants were called Varangians.
A couple of hundred years later there came rowing Svear to Finland and Estonia who went on crusades
and conquered their lands and were then called Ruotsi and Rootsi.
Please note that there is no sign of Scandinavians in Kiev until Olof Skötkonung married off his daughter Ingegerd to Jaroslav in Kiev in 1019.
The large amount of Scandinavians come in the 1040s with Ingvar and his warriors.
This linguistic usage tells us already a lot.
In Eastern Europe, the Arabs have thus had time to peacefully get acquainted with the Gotlandic mer- chants, and for them make two Gotlandic words, al- Rus’ and Warang, the Old Norse Vaeringi.
In the west, however, the Arabs have not had a clue about the Vikings’ language, and therefore in their perplexity seized back on an old word for pagans, that from the Quran familiar word madjù, ‘magician’.
It fits pretty well with the fact that in the west there were mostly sudden passing military assaults, which did not allow any linguistic contact.
After Bagdad was founded in 762 the Gotlandic merchants traded with the Islamic Caliphate which they called Særkland. They sold furs, weapons and slaves and were paid in hard cash.
Gotland has to- day the worlds largest collection of coins from the Islamic Caliphate, most of them minted in Bagdad. Between the Baltic Sea and the Volga the Gotlanders founded bases which today are called the Rus’ Khaganate. Most of these bases were destroyed in about 860.
The first documented contact with a delegation of Gotlandic merchants (Rhos) to visit Miklagarðr (Constantinople) is in 838.
There are three separate written sources that mention it and a coin with the emperor Theophilos was found in the large silver hoard at Spillings. Miklagarðr means the large farm in contrast to the small farms they had at home in Gotland.
A Gotlandic fleet with 200 ships besieged Constantinople in 860-861 with the outcome of longlasting agreemets between the Gotlanders and the Byzantine Emperor.
The most authoritative source on the first Christianization of the Rhos is an encyclical letter from the Patriarch Photius, datable to early 867.
Referencing to the Rhos-Byzantine War of 860-861, Photius informs the Oriental patriarchs and bisops that, after the Bulgars turned to Christ in 864, the Rhos followed suit so zealously that he found it prudent to send a bishop to their land.
This fits very well with Guta Saga, which is the fore- word to Guta Lagh written down about 1220, that says: ‘Although the Gotlanders were heathen, they nevertheless sailed on trading voyages to all countries, both Christian and heathen. The merchants saw Christian customs in Christian lands. Some of them allowed themselves to be baptised, and brought priests to Gotland.
Botair of Akebäck was the name of the one who first built a church in the place which is now called Kulstäde’.
The church in Kulstäde was according to Guta Saga burned down, but in 897 the church in Visby was allowed to remain.
We today know of 55 wooden churches, probably all from the 900s. From the beginning of the 1000s the wooden churches were replaced with Romanesque stone churches in Macedonian Renaissance art.
Macedonian Renaissance art (867-1056) was a period in Byzantine art which began in the period follow- ing the death of Emperor Theophilus in 842 and the lifting of the ban on icons, iconoclasm.
The Gotlanders were deeply involved in Miklagar∂r during that time and the early Gotlandic churches are highly influenced by Armenian church buildings and the Byzantine art.
In 886 the grandson to the Gotlandic Varangian Ingr became Emperor under the name Leo VI.
The Gotlandic church was like the Armenian and Georgian churches independant and did never submit to any bishop.
During the first 300 years the Gotlandic Church was Byzantine with Byzantine ritual and paintings. Passing bishops inaugurated new churches.
In 1164 the Gotlanders made a treaty with the bishop who lived closest to them, the one in Linköping, to undertake the duties of a bishop against special conditions regulated by the Gotlanders.
The highest authority för the Gotlandic church was the Gutna Althingi and the Gotlanders never submitted to the Catholic Pope.

The Gotlanders massive presence in Miklagarðr and the Gotlandic Varangian Ingr’s daughter becoming Empress in 867 must have contributed to the formation of an independent Gotlandic Church that during the first 300 years was purely Byzantine in its outlook.
In the 900s we know of 55 wooden churches and most population in the upper layer is believed to have become Christians. 
From the beginning of the 1000s the churches are built in stone after the Armenian model.
How to explain the mutually so dismissive attitude of these yet so related forms? If they partly coincide in time, which is the older? Which are its roots? Why did the Gotlanders change from wood to stone end of the 900s. How much has the contacts with the Macedonian Renaissance art and Armenian church architecture influenced the Gotlandic Romanesque art. What is Hegwaldr, Majestatis, Semi-Byzantios and Byzantios relationship with the Ottonian art?
Both Hegwaldr, Majestatis and Byzantios are exclusively typical of their own island. Here we encounter a question that can only be solved through individual study of the works of these masters.
The oldest groups of Gotlandic baptismal fonts, that seem in the large to follow the same pattern, have a cup and a low cylinder with conical tapered bottom. On the foot are four diametrically projecting heads. Almost every point is decorated with one in diametric contrast of the other. This gives immediately a remarkably wide horizon for the Gotlandic art and unites the principal amount of problems in itself that the Gotlandic history of sculpture offers.
The direction of the cultural current is even more apparent when one looks at some other preserved fragments of Gotlandic architecture of the 1000s, which are related to Lund. The reclining lion that crowns the abutment of the arch on the north portal in Hablingbo, by Majestatis ca 1040, with similar ones on both later portals in Lund. The tower portal in Grötlingbo where the animals between tendrils adorn an Archivolte reminds on the outermost Archivolts of the later south portal in Lund.
The Gotlandic Romanesque churches had already in the early 1000s been based on the Armenian churches within the Macaedonian Renessance art. This was the base with a few novelties that would remain for the Gotlandic churches until the “Egypticus lodge” came with the Contra-Gothic style after the civil war in 1288.
There is a line of stone mason lodges from Hegwaldr’s lodge beginning end 900s until the large Egypticus lodge in the 1300s. These early churchbuilders had the Gotlandic picture stone art in their baggage and got their education in the Byzantine Macedonian Renaissance art. The model for the earliest Gotlandic stone churches in the early 1000s was the Armenian church architecture.


vor3. Einen kritischen Uberblick liefert Lena Thunmark-Nyl6n in ihrem einschlägigen \ü7erk über die \Wikingerzeit Gotlandsa. Bedauerlichervreise sind die Ergebnisse der Grabungen von 1998 bis 2003 fast ausschließlich der Lokalpresse sowie den meist knappen Berichten zu entnehmen, die auf der Internetseite des Projektes (Fröjel Discovery Programme) zur Verfügung gestellt werdens. Jüngst ist in der Zeitschrift'Godändskt Arkiv' ein kleiner Beittag von Ny Björn Gustafsson und Anders Söderberg über die Silberwerkstatt von Fröiel erschienen6. Die Bildsteinhälften befanden sich in Grab 15 des nördlichen Gräberfeldes. Es handelt sich um eine Nord-Süd-odentierte Körperbestattung mit Steinpackung. Unter der Steinpackung wurde die obere Hälfte des Bildsteins aufrecht stehend hinter dem Kopf des Toten angetroffen. Die untere Hälfte der Kalksteinplatte war umgesrürzt und lag mit der Schauseite auf den Füßen des Be statteten. Ursprünglich haben jedoch beide Teile aufrecht mit der Bildfläche nach innen gerichtet gestanden und als Giebelplatten das Kopfbzur. Fußende der Grabkonstruktion markiert. Zusammengesetzt hat der Stein eine Höhe von etsra 145 cm und trägt die für Gotlands späteren Bildsteine typische Schlüsselloch-oder Pilzform. Die maximale Breite im'Wurzelbereich' beträgt rund 90 cm. Der Bildstein ist Sune Lindqvists Gruppe C zuzuweisen, die üblicherweise in das achteT, neuerdings aber in das achte bis zehnteJahrhundert datiert wird8. !(/as das Skelett anbetrifft, so ließ die osteologische Untersuchung auf eine adulte männliche Person schließen. Grabbeigaben waren nicht vothanden. Die Bestattung lässt sich in das zehnteJahrhundert datieren.

Die Darstellungen auf den gotländischen Bildsteinen sind häufig nur schwer ansprechbar. Sowohl das flache und nicht selten recht primitive Relief als auch die flachen Ritzungen sind stark verwittert oder durch Fußtritte abgeschliffen. Diese Tatsache stellte eine der zentralen Herausforderungen dar, mit denen sich Sune Lindqvist und seine Vorgänger bei der Vorbereitung der Bildsteinedition von 1941/1942 konfrontiert sahen. Bis heute ist sie ein wesentliches -bedauerlicherweise jedoch wenig beachtetes -Problem der Bildsteinforschung geblieben. Während Frederik Nordin, Gabriel Gustafson and Olof Sörling die Steinoberflächen noch bei Tageslicht untersuchten und daraufhin zeichneten, ging Sune Lindqvist dazu über, die Räumlichkeit bzw. den Standort abzudunkeln und die Bilddarstellungen mit Hilfe einer Lampe aus verschiedenen Winkeln auszuleuchten. In Vorbereitung seiner Edition markierte Lindqvist schließlich jene Vertiefungen, die er der Hand des Künstlers zurechnete mit schwarzer Farbe. Die eingefärbten Bildsteine wurden photografiert und in der Publikation von 1941/1942 abgebildet. Zweifelsohne ist Lindqvist ein ausgezeichneter Kenner gewesen und sein Werk ist nach wie vor von unschätzbarem Wert. Doch Lindqvist selbst weist ausdrücklich darauf hin, dass diese Methode keine sichere Rekonstruktion der ehemaligen Bildkomposition zulässt. 1 Häufig ist nicht zu entscheiden, ob die bei Schrägbeleuchtung entstehenden Schatten Bildkonturen, also intendierte Ritzungen und abgemeißelte Partien, oder natürliche Unregelmäßigkeiten der verwitterten Steinoberfläche und spätere Beschädigungen angeben. Lindqvist und sein Team sahen sich gezwungen, nur die "mit Sicherheit oder doch wenigstens größerer Wahrscheinlichkeit" als Bildbestandteil zu bestimmenden Flächen durch Farbe kenntlich zu machen. Zudem hat Lindqvist darauf aufmerksam gemacht, dass auf einigen besonders gut bewahrten Steinen feinste Linien erkennbar sind, die als Überreste einer ausführlichen Vorskizzierung zu bewerten seien. 2 Nur die groben Konturen der Bilddarstellungen seien einst als Flachrelief stehen gelassen worden, während man die skizzierten Binnenkonturen und Details mit Farbe ausführte. Die Farbe ist nicht mehr erhalten bzw. nicht mehr sichtbar und die zarten Linien, die vermutlich mit einer Art Messerklinge sanft eingeschnitten wurden, sind nur noch zu erahnen. Da jedoch die korrekte Bilddokumentation -die vor-ikonografische Beschreibung -die unverzicht-

There is something called the Beowulf epos, from the beginning of the 500s, which is the oldest known Germanic epos, by some regarded as the Germanic-speaking peoples counterpart to the Greek Iliad and Odyssey. Historians and linguists have tried in various ways to interpret and fit the epic into the Swedish history without much success. However, it is now proven that it has its home in the Gotlandic history. Together with the Gotlandic picture stones and Guta Saga the Beowulf epos constitutes Gotland's finest historical records. The Gotlandic picture stones indicate intensive contacts with the literary world of the time. From these sources you can also read the historical relationship between the Gotlanders and they in the beginning of the 500s immigrating Heruls (Svear). The Beowulf epos is the ancient Germanic world's great epic poem. According to professor Björn Collinder: "The Beowulf Epos argues well its place among epics in world literature. And it contains lyrical passages of great beauty". "A fastidious reader discovers in the Beowulf epos some contradictory details. But the contradictions are not worse than those found in the Gospels and the Acts." Beowulf sails from Gotland to Stevns klint in Sjaelland, Denmark.

This piece was published alongside Richard Cole, "Medieval and Contemporary Perspectives on Violence Against Objects" (183-197), and Frederik Lynge Vognsen, "Ejendomsret, demokrati og retten til 'at tage'. Mellem middelalder og stormen på Capitol 6. januar 2021" (204-207).

The archaeological material from the Late Iron Age and Early Medieval Period in the Baltic Sea region is rich and varied, and has increasingly been taken into consideration in discussions about social encounters and interactions in the area. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the possibilities to use methodological tools developed within postcolonial theory in an investigation about the relations between materiality, social encounters, and ideological change in the Baltic region. I will demonstrate how the Gotlandic picture stones can be viewed as expressions of ideological hybridity. This paper shall be seen as a preliminary case study, which will be elaborated further in my future work. My PhD-research deals with the  impact of the Latin Western European influences on social organisation and ideology. Important perspectives derive from postcolonial, gender, and queer theoretical thought. Concepts of personal and collective social identities, as gender, and ethnicity will be analysed through the picture stone tradition, other artefacts, and the layout of settlements. The geographical frame of study is the Late Iron Age and Early Medieval (6th-13th cent. AD) societies in the Baltic Sea region, particularly the Swedish province of Gotland.

The Gotlandic Chronicle or Guta Saga
The Guta Saga (note 3), as the preface to Guta Lagh,
is the popular name of the Gotlandic Chronicle. It deals with the earliest history of Gotland, how the Gotlanders saw it when it was written down in the beginning of the1200s. Guta Saga and Guta Lagh are written in the Gotlandic language, ‘Gutniska’, clearly distinct from other
 Nordic languages and is very close to the Gothic 
language. It lacks any counterpart on the Swedish 
mainland. Gotland, from distant times and even well into modern times, was an independent Merchant Farmers’ Republic with its own history and
 its own distinctive culture. Gotland’s own form world developed early. Gotland was the center for
 the rich Baltic Sea culture. Guta Saga is also a literary masterpiece, which according to Adolf Schück shows that the Gotlanders early had reached an advanced stage in the narrative arts. An interesting linguistic difference between Gotlandic and Swedish 
is the Swedish word ‘arv’, inherit, that in Gotlandic
is called ‘lutum, liautr’.


This essay deals with a picture-stone that was found in a pre Christian grave during the archaeological excavations of the Viking Age harbour and trading place at Fröjel parish, Gotland, in 1999. The stone is at least 100 years older then the male grave in which it was found. The picture-stone can be dated to  late 8th century or early 9th century, and the grave is probably from the late 10th century. One of the main questions in this essay is why the people of that time re-used an older picture-stone in a younger burial. I believe that the stone was reused as a grave-gift. To re-use the older picture stone was to seek legitimacy for the status of the family through the forefathers. The picture-stones were originally monuments erected in the honour of dead men. The elite could display their social position and power through these monuments. The depicted figures on them can be interpreted as symbols of the transition between life and death. The Gotlandic picture-stones of this type have connections to beliefs of Odin, the Norse God of wisdom, war and death. My theoretical perspective is that through studies of picture-stones, knowledge can be gained about ideologies and social structures within the Gotlandic society during the Viking Age.