GP 134 Hablingbo Havor III

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, in press). 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 immediately surrounding area. The ringfort was built no later than the end of the Pre-Roman Iron Age and was used in several phases at least until 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 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; in press).

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 grave slab together with six partly fragmented picture stones (GP 133, 135–138 Hablingbo Havor II, IV–VII; the seventh stone 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 separated group of late Viking Age burials in the western area 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-type belt mounts as well as 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, in press). The seven limestone slabs (labelled A–F by Gustafson) were arranged as a cover slab, based on two 3,3 m long rows of eight and nine fieldstones respectively that framed the 0,4–0,5-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 III (stone G according to Gustafson’s designation) was part of the northern end of the grave slab above the northeastern 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 as early as 1918 during a visit by Fredrik Nordin, while the picture stone GP 133 Hablingbo Havor II remained in 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 had already been excavated in two pieces in 1886. It is possible that stone F – i.e. GP 568 Hablingbo Havor (IX) – was an undecorated limestone slab or a picture stone that had already been ‘blind’ (smooth with no images 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 inventoried (Toplak, in press).

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GP 132 Hablingbo Havor I
GP 133 Hablingbo Havor II
GP 135 Hablingbo Havor IV
GP 136 Hablingbo Havor V
GP 137 Hablingbo Havor VI
GP 138 Hablingbo Havor VII
GP 586 Hablingbo Havor (IX)

Measurements, Material and Condition ⓘ
“Limestone slab, 10.5 cm thick. The obverse possibly is hewn flat above the naturally smooth root; the vertical sides, perhaps differentiated by chamfers, are hewn flat at right angles towards the obverse, the reverse is rough. The completely preserved root is lacking any traces of the far-advanced flaking and other effects of weathering that have affected the larger part of the body, the upper portion of which is lost. The stone’s current height is 82 cm, of which slightly more than 50 cm are accounted for by the part above the root. The width is 46 cm at the base, 50 cm at the very top.” (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 55). Although the uppermost part of the picture stone is missing, the picture stone Hablingbo Havor III shows a similar long, narrow form with a slightly flared, convex upper narrow side as the picture stone GP 132 Hablingbo Havor I, but in much smaller proportions.

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GP 132 Hablingbo Havor I

Description of Ornament and Images ⓘ
According to Lindqvist (1941/42 II, pp. 55–56) the picture stone Hablingbo Havor III is decorated with chiselled lines up to 2 mm deep and 3 mm wide. Along the broad sides two approximately 5 mm wide grooves can be identified. In the centre of the obverse, the lower half of a whorl rosette of 24 cm diameter is visible, similar to the central motif on the picture stone GP 132 Hablingbo Havor I. The whorl rosette is divided up into crescent-shaped fields, every second of which has been chiselled slightly more than 1 mm deep.

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GP 132 Hablingbo Havor I

Interpretation of the Imagery ⓘ
The whorl rosette can be interpreted as a symbol of the sun (Oehrl 2019a, pp. 120, 124–125). More elaborate information on the possible interpretation of whorl motifs as sun symbols and the iconography of the Type A picture stones is available in the article on GP 350 Sanda kyrka IV.

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GP 350 Sanda kyrka IV

Type and Dating ⓘ
Dwarf stone of rectangular or nearly rectangular shape, belonging to Lindqvist’s “Abschnitt” A (circa AD 400–600; Lindqvist 1941/42 I, pp. 28, 30–31, 110; see also Oehrl 2019, pp. 8–10). Lindqvist’s dating to the Migration Period finds support in the archaeological material from the cemetery of Havor which demonstrate a final 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, in press).

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References ⓘ
Lindqvist 1941/42 I, p. 28; II, pp. 55–56, fig. 367, 370; Thunmark-Nylén 1995–2006 III, p. 583; Rundkvist 2012, pp. 151, table 2, 152; Toplak, in press.

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