GP 129 Hablingbo Stenstu

Context and Discovery ⓘ
The two fragments of a picture stone were found while ploughing, approximately 300 to 400 m west of the farmstead ʻStenstuʼ (i.e., ʻStenstuguʼ), and delivered to Statens Historiska Museum in Stockholm in 1920. More information is not available.

Measurements, Material and Condition ⓘ
The small picture stone is preserved in two fragments, one of them representing the monument’s complete head and a small part of the field below, and the second one representing the massive root, the base and the bottom part of the lower image field. Only one of the original edges is preserved on the second fragment; the other edge is broken off. The middle part of the stone, including a large part of the lower image field and the lateral edges is missing. Lindqvist notes: “Limestone slab, 3–5 cm thick. Both broad sides above the root smoothed by hewing, though not completely flat, the narrow sides hewn at right angles to it and separated from both broad sides by chamfers, that generally do not reach 1 cm width.” The carvings are well preserved.

Description of Ornament and Images ⓘ
As most of the carvings are very clear; they have not been painted (Lindqvist 1941/42 I, fig. 55–56, cf. ATA 462:2-3; 440:26). Nevertheless, some of the details described by Lindqvist can only be discerned on Olof Sörling’s drawing from 1920, which is not published in “Gotlands Bildsteine” but kept in ATA (Run- och bildstenssamling). Lindqvist describes the decoration and their technique with particular detail (ibid. II, p. 57): “The bordering on both broad sides is formed by 3 mm wide grooves of 1–2 mm depth and with almost flat bases. They obviously were carved by means of a 3 mm wide chisel that was set to the stone surface transversely and then little by little was moved in the direction of the grooves. Some of the contours of the figures in the fields were produced in the same manner, but at several places, the chisel had been put down at an oblique angle at the cutting edge, so that merely that edge that is facing the figure was cut deep enough to produce a sharp ledge. As a consequence of the method just described, the masts of the vessels, for example, appear to rise up from the sunken background field. Only exceptionally have large areas of the large background fields been chiselled, such as in the areas between the birds’ bellies and feet.

Apart from the borders with a simplified twisted cord patterns and unusually wide horizontal borders with zigzag patterns along the base, the imagery on Face A, the field of which is divided in two at about half way up the body by a horizontal border, includes: in the upper panel, a watercraft with towering stems, a rudder on its starboard side, and a tabular sail, and in the lower panel, remains of two waterfowl facing each other; on the other broad side, at the very top, a watercraft like the preceding one, but with the rudder on its port side, as well as four pointed figures rising up from the railing, at the very bottom, remains of two waterfowl facing each other.”

Interpretation of the Imagery ⓘ
There are at least ten Type B picture stones with images of single aquatic birds or antithetic pairs of waterfowl known so far (see IX). More information about the possible origin of this motif in Christian iconography and its interpretation in a pre-Christian Scandinavian context, in particular regarding eschatological beliefs and ideas of the afterlife journey, see GP 276 När Rikvide I. Regarding Christian influence on the imagery of ʻAbschnittʼ B see also GP 551 Väskinde Butter and GP 274 Norrlanda Bringes.
GP 276 När Rikvide (I)
GP 551 Väskinde Butter
GP 274 Norrlanda Bringes

Type and Dating ⓘ
Middle-type picture stone, i.e., Type B according to Lindqvist, dating to between AD 500 and 700. The stone belongs to those Type B stones described by Lindqvist (1941/42 I, pp. 38–39) as dwarf stones with convex head and pronounced corners protruding horizontally. Hablingbo Stenstu was the name-given for Lindqvist’s so-called Stenstugruppe (1941/42 I, pp. 37–38), which is characterized by depictions of aquatic birds in the lower field of the stone and a simple vessel (i.e., ships of the Rikvidetyp – ibid. I, p. 66) in the upper field. These monuments are frequently decorated on both sides. Lindqvist considers them to have been placed pairwise on graves. The currently known Type B monuments featuring single or pairs of aquatic birds are the following: GP 142 Halla Broa VII, GP 165 Halla Broa XVII, GP 129 Hablingbo Stenstu, GP 276 När Rikvide I, GP 277 När Rikvide 2, GP 10 Alva St. Ringome, GP 96 Garda Smiss I, GP 274 Norrlanda Bringes, GP 200 Hemse Lindvide, and the Type B dwarf stone found in Grobin, Latvia (Petrenko 1991; Lamm 1991; Lamm/Nylén 2003, pp. 210–211). As far as GP 129 Hablingbo Stenstu is concerned, GP 10 Alva St. Ringome is the best match, featuring a very similar type of bird, probably a comparable ship, as well as the same outline (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 18).

Varenius (1992, appendix 2) assigns the ship depiction on Hablingbo Stenstu to his group 2 (enkel rigg), which he dates to the period between the 7th and the 9th century. In Rundkvist’s (2012, p. 159) typology, however, the shape of the stone corresponds to his type dwarf2, dating to the early Vendel Period.
GP 142 Halla Broa VII
GP 165 Halla Broa XVII
GP 276 När Rikvide (I)
GP 277 När Rikvide 2
GP 10 Alva St. Ringome
GP 96 Garda Smiss I
GP 274 Norrlanda Bringes
GP 200 Hemse Lindvide

References ⓘ
Lindqvist 1941/42 I, pp. 37–38, 40, 66, fig. 55–56; II, p. 57; Böhner 1968, pp. 188–189; Varenius 1992, p. 62, figs. 21–22; Guber 2011, p. 123 cat. no. 28; Oehrl 2019a, pp. 11, 168, pl. 2f.

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