GP 135 Hablingbo Havor IV

Context and Discovery ⓘ
The cemetery of Havor lies in the southern part of Gotland, on the southern banks of the former lake and later moorland of Mästermyr, on the northern outskirts of Hablingbo parish, some kilometres east of the western shore of Gotland. The area, which today is widely forested, stretches around 750 meters from east-northeast to west-southwest on a gravel ridge. Around 260 of approximately 370 registered graves were excavated, dating from the Pre-Roman Iron Age to the late Viking Age, with a hiatus in the late Vendel Period and the Early Viking Age (Nylén 1955, pp. 61–64; Toplak 2023). The north-eastern and probably oldest part of the cemetery was heavily disturbed by gravel extraction from the middle of the 19th-century onwards, which led to the discovery of the picture stone GP 132 Hablingbo Havor I, and the extent as well as the original number of burials in this area remain uncertain. Some smaller groups of graves can be found at the southwestern periphery of the cemetery, either constituting the outer edges of the burial area or belonging to separate cemeteries. The cemetery at Havor is part of a unique complex with an uninterrupted continuity of settlement from the late Bronze Age to the late Viking Age (Manneke 2005; Manneke et al. 2013). Approximately 800 meters east of the cemetery lie a ringfort, several buildings with stone foundations as well as the remains of further settlements in the directly surrounding area. The ringfort was built at the end of the Pre-Roman Iron Age at the latest and was used in several phases until at least the end of the Migration Period as a meeting place and arena for socio-political or religious activities. Remains of settlements north of the ringfort can be dated back to the late Bronze Age or early Iron Age and are therefore slightly older than the earliest burials from the Pre-Roman Iron Age in the cemetery. Several stone foundations south of the ringfort and the rich finds from settlements, graves and the ringfort – such as Roman imports or golden jewellery and especially a unique hoard with a golden neck ring (Nylén 1962; 2005) – bear witness to the great regional significance of Havor as a socio-political or religious central place in the Roman Iron Age and the Migration Period. Following a decline of Havor in the Vendel Period, the late Viking Age burials attest to a revival of the local society, probably due to increasing trading activities, but also a significant return to older traditions such as the re-use of older graves or the incorporation of picture stones in burials (Toplak 2022; 2023).

The picture stone was found during the excavation of the cemetery of Havor in 1886. It was discovered in a late Viking Age grave (grave No. 191) where it was re-used as a cover stone for the grave together with six partly fragmented picture stones (GP 133–136, 138, 586 Hablingbo Havor II–V, VII, IX; GP 586 (IX) is missing), similar to several other picture stones on Gotlandic Viking Age cemeteries (see Burström 1996; Thunmark-Nylén 1995–2006 III, pp. 582–584; Rundkvist 2012; Toplak 2022; Oehrl/Toplak, in press). The grave – a shallow burial mound with the inhumation of a male-gendered individual with the head to the south – was located in a separate group of late Viking Age burials in the western part of the cemetery (see Toplak 2022). The deceased was buried in a supine position with dress accessories including two penannular brooches and a belt with eastern-style belt mounts as well as with a knife, a comb, a fire striker, a clay pot and a large bronze bowl, which was probably imported to Gotland from the Frankish realm (Thunmark-Nylén 1995–2006 IV, p. 302; Toplak 2022, 2023). The seven limestone slabs (labelled A–F by Gustafson) were arranged as a cover slab, laid on top of two 3,3 m long rows of eight and nine fieldstones respectively that framed the 0,4 to 0,5 m broad burial pit. The obverses of the picture stones were facing downwards towards the burial. According to a rough sketch of the grave slab in situ, made by Gustafson during the excavation, the picture stone Hablingbo Havor IV (stone E according to Gustafson’s designation) was part of the northern end of the grave slab above the northwestern foot end of the grave.

All seven picture stones were re-erected in the vicinity of the grave after the end of the excavation season in 1886. Five picture stones, GP 134–138 Hablingbo Havor III–VII, from grave 191 were moved from their location in the cemetery in Nilsson’s Träskhage (marshy pasture) to the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm in 1918 during a visit by Fredrik Nordin, while picture stone GP 133 Hablingbo Havor II remained on the cemetery. According to an anonymous source, one of the stones was accidentally smashed during the removal of the stones. Parts of this stone are said to have lain behind a cattle shed for a long time. It can be assumed that this was Gustafson’s stone F from grave 191, which was already broken in two parts in 1886. It is possible that stone F – i.e. GP 586 Hablingbo Havor (IX) – was an undecorated limestone slab or a picture stone that was already ‘blind’ (smooth with no carvings visible) in the Viking Age, since according to the excavation report stone F was the only stone to have lain with the ‘best side’ (i.e. the smooth side) facing upwards, while the visible carvings on all the other stones were facing downwards towards the burial. This could explain why the fragmented stone had not been taken to Stockholm and has never been registered (Toplak 2023).
MT
GP 132 Hablingbo Havor I
GP 133 Hablingbo Havor II
GP 134 Hablingbo Havor III
GP 136 Hablingbo Havor V
GP 137 Hablingbo Havor VI
GP 138 Hablingbo Havor VII
GP 586 Hablingbo Havor (IX)

Measurements, Material and Condition ⓘ
The limestone slab is 16 cm thick, 84 cm in length according to the 3D model, however, Lindqvist documents the stone as 86 cm in length. The maximum width is approximately 57 cm. The broad side is heavily damaged and worn but the remaining areas of the original surface appear to have been hewn flat while the reverse side is unprocessed. The remaining upper narrow side is 51 cm in length and smoothly hewn to a width of 9 cm. According to Lindqvist (1941/42 II, p. 56), the upper narrow side is slightly convex, but this is difficult to detect with the limited remaining length, and connected to the broad side by a chamfered edge that is less than 1 cm wide. The left and right sides of the stone are secondary fractures and there is nothing remaining of the original short ends.

Gustafson’s sketch of picture stone Hablingbo Havor IV arranged as part of the grave slab in situ during the excavation of grave 191 in 1886 does not correspond with the later photographs of the stone. During the excavation, the stone was still intact, only a part of the decorated upper left corner had been broken off but was found in the grave. When the stone was registered in 1918, two opposite corners of the stone were missing, including the decorated fragment that was recovered by Gustafson in 1886.

MT / CJL

Description of Ornament and Images ⓘ
The remains of a border panel, approximately 14 cm in width, runs parallel to the upper edge of the broad side of the stone. The design within the border panel is carved in relief with the recessed area of the border panel beginning approximately 2 cm in from the upper edge of the stone. The lower edge of the border panel is framed by a single chiseled groove that is approximately 0.5 cm wide. The design is described by Lindqvist (1941/42 II, p. 56) as a knitting pattern (Strickmuster) that consists of “band rings” that are “compressed in an s-shape”.
CJL / MT

Interpretation of the Imagery ⓘ
No interpretation

Type and Dating ⓘ
Lindqvist (1941/42 I, pp. 28, 31–33, 110) categorized Hablingbo Havor IV as a kerbstone (Randstein) that he includes within his ʻAbschnittʼ A which dates to circa AD 400–600 (see also Oehrl 2019a, pp. 8–10). Lindqvist’s dating to the Migration Period finds support in the archaeological material from the cemetery of Havor which demonstrates a last phase of socio-political, economical, and perhaps even religious importance of the society at Havor and a rapid decline in the early Vendel Period (Toplak 2023). According to Lindqvist (1933, pp. 105, 107; 1941/1942 I, pp. 21, 31–33), the kerbstones formed an edge chain which surrounded a grave mound, possibly with an erected Type A picture stone in the center. However, no evidence has been found to confirm that any of the erected Type A picture stones were placed within a grave mound (Larkin 2023a, p. 50). Hablingbo Havor IV is assigned by Lindqvist (1941/42 I, pp. 28, 33, 112) to his group 4 kerbstones which he determined to have a knitting pattern (Strickmuster). Lindqvist also included GP 137 Hablingbo Havor VI, GP 206 Hogrän kyrka II and GP 251 Lärbro Norder Ire III in this category, but it should be noted that there is a lot of variation among the “knitting pattern” designs on these stones.

CJL / MT
GP 137 Hablingbo Havor VI
GP 206 Hogrän kyrka II
GP 251 Lärbro Norder-Ire III

References ⓘ
Lindqvist 1941/42 I, pp. 28, 33, 112, fig. 20; II, pp. 54–56, fig. 367, 371; Holmqvist 1952a, pp. 8–9; Thunmark-Nylén 1995–2006 III, p. 583; Lamm/Nylén 2003, p.185; Rundkvist 2012, pp. 151, table 2, 152; Toplak 2023.

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