GP 136 Hablingbo Havor V

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 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 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 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 oriental belt mounds as well as with a knife, a comb, a fire striker, a clay pot and a large bronze bowl, that 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 GP 136 Hablingbo Havor V (stone C according to Gustafson’s designation) formed the mid-section of the grave slab.

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 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 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 had already been ‘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 135 Hablingbo Havor IV
GP 137 Hablingbo Havor VI
GP 138 Hablingbo Havor VII
GP 586 Hablingbo Havor (IX)

Measurements, Material and Condition ⓘ
The limestone slab is 10 cm thick, 167 cm in length with both pieces joined together, and its maximum width is 50 cm. The broad side has likely been hewn flat but is heavily worn with the border panel design only faintly discernable. The upper narrow side is convex and smoothly hewn to a width of 7 cm and is connected to the broad side by a 1 cm wide chamfered edge. The two short ends are convex and smoothly hewn. The stone was found broken in half and there is a small triangular fragment missing from the lower edge. A band of discoloration, which appears to be a soil stain, can be observed running across the entire length of the bottom half of the stone. A similar stain can also be observed on GP 138 Hablingbo Havor VII. It is unclear if these stains were already on the stones when they were found in the grave or if the stains are a result of the stones having been erected in the grave field after the 1886 excavation, as was done with GP 133–134 Hablingbo Havor II and III, before being transferred to the Swedish History Museum (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, pp. 54–55; Toplak 2023).

CJL/MT

GP 138 Hablingbo Havor VII
GP 133 Hablingbo Havor II
GP 134 Hablingbo Havor III

Description of Ornament and Images ⓘ
A border panel that is approximately 11.5 cm in width runs along the upper convex edge of the broad side of the stone. Although heavily worn, the border panel appears to contain the same double spiral design that is found on GP 138 Hablingbo Havor VII, which was found in the same grave. The border panel begins 2 cm in from the upper edge of the stone and is defined on both the upper and lower edge by a single thin incised groove. There are fourteen discernable spirals within the frame of the border panel. The spirals were also carved with thin incised grooves which is different from the designs on some of the other decorated kerbstones which were carved in relief; including GP 135 Hablingbo Havor IV and GP 137 Hablingbo Havor VI that were found in the same grave.

CJL / MT

GP 138 Hablingbo Havor VII
GP 135 Hablingbo Havor IV
GP 137 Hablingbo Havor VI

Interpretation of the Imagery ⓘ
No interpretation

Type and Dating ⓘ
Lindqvist (1941/42 I, pp. 28, 31–33, 110) categorized Hablingbo Havor V 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 V is assigned by Lindqvist (1941/42 I, pp. 28, 33, 114) to his group 5 kerbstones which have rows of spirals (Spiralreihen). GP 138 Hablingbo Havor VII and GP 547 Väskinde kyrka II are also included within this group.

While Lindqvist categorized Hablingbo Havor V and VII (GP 136, 138) as kerbstones, Cherie Larkin (2023a; forthcoming) has proposed that there is evidence to suggest that rather than having been recumbent stones that were laid on the ground to create a circular edge chain, they were intended to be raised stones, similar to the tall, dwarf and cist type picture stones. The matching designs of double spirals on the two stones suggests that they were intended to be used together, however, according to Larkin (2023a; forthcoming) the form of their short ends would not have allowed them to create the same circular edge chains that we find with the confirmed kerbstones (GP 566–569 Hellvi Ire II, GP 377–381 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VI, GP 382 Stenkyrka Tystebols II).

CJL / MT
GP 138 Hablingbo Havor VII
GP 547 Väskinde kyrka II
GP 566 Hellvi Ire II:1
GP 567 Hellvi Ire II:2
GP 568 Hellvi Ire II:3
GP 569 Hellvi Ire II:4
GP 377 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIa
GP 378 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIb
GP 379 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIc
GP 380 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VId
GP 381 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs VIe
GP 382 Stenkyrka Tystebols II

References ⓘ
Lindqvist 1933, pp. 105, 107, fig. 11; 1941/42 I, pp. 28, 33, 114, fig. 25, 203; II, pp. 54–56, fig. 367; Thunmark-Nylén 1995–2006 III, p. 583; Lamm/Nylén 2003, p.185; Rundkvist 2012, pp. 151, table 2, 152; Larkin 2023a; forthcoming; Toplak 2023.

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