Parish Find Location 
Hablingbo

Find Location 
Uncovered in a late Viking Age grave by Gabriel Gustafson during the excavation of the cemetery of Havor Hablingbo parish.

Find Context Classification 
Grave

Parish Present Location 
Unknown

Present Location 
Unknown

Present Location Classification 
Unknown

Material 
Limestone

Height 
90

Width 
45

Lindqvist Type 
A (ca. 400-600)

Lindqvist Shape 
Dwarf stone
Kerb stone

Runic Inscription or not 
No

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 direct surrounding area. The ringfort was built at the latest at 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 the 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 133–138 Hablingbo Havor II–VII), 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 area of the cemetery (see Toplak 2022). The deceased was buried in a supine position with dress accessories such as two penannular brooches and a belt with eastern-type 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, 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 respective nine fieldstones that framed the 0,4–0,5 m broad burial pit. The obverses of the picture stones GP 133–138 Hablingbo Havor II–VII were facing downwards towards the burial. Only the picture stone Hablingbo Havor (IX) (stone F according to Gustafson’s designation) lay with the smooth side facing upwards, forming the mid-section of the northern end of the grave slab above the 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 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 Hablingbo Havor (IX), Gustafson’s stone F from grave 191, which was excavated in two in 1886. It is possible that stone F was an unworked limestone slab or a picture stone that had already been blind 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 faced downwards towards the burial. This could explain why the fragmented stone was not taken to Stockholm and has never been registered (Toplak, in press).
GP 132 Hablingbo Havor I
GP 133 Hablingbo Havor II
GP 134 Hablingbo Havor III
GP 135 Hablingbo Havor IV
GP 136 Hablingbo Havor V
GP 137 Hablingbo Havor VI
GP 138 Hablingbo Havor VII

Measurements, Material and Condition 
Hablingbo Havor (IX) has never been precisely measured or studied; the only documentation is a rough sketch of the broken stone as part of the grave slab in situ, made by Gustafson during the excavation. According to this sketch, a total length of 88–90 cm and a width of 42–45 cm of the limestone slab can be estimated.

Description of Ornament and Images 
Probably an undecorated limestone slab or a picture stone that had already been blind in the Viking Age; 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.

MT

Interpretation of the Imagery 
No interpretation

Type and Dating 
Probably dwarf stone or kerb stone, belonging to Lindqvist’s “Abschnitt” A (circa AD 400–600; Lindqvist 1941/42 I, pp. 28, 30–33, 110; see also Oehrl 2019, pp. 8–10). A dating of this stone to the Migration Period according to Lindqvist’s typology 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, in press).

MT

References 
Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 54; Toplak, in press.

Title
GP 586 Hablingbo Havor (IX)