Festlig Faglig Fredag with Sigmund Oehrl: Gotlandic Picture Stones: The Online Edition...

Digitized image of a Gotlandic Picture Stone
Viking Period picture stone from Lärbro, St. Hammars. 3D-model depicting the monument’s surface one half with, the other half without colour texture, which represents the secondary painting of the stone made in the 1930s. Image credit: Sigmund Oehrl.

Happy New Year, everyone. The first Festlig Faglig Fredag of the year will be Sigmund Oehrl giving the talk

»Gotlandic Picture Stones: The Online Edition. Background, status and aim of the Ancient Images 2.0 digitization project«

Abstract:

The Gotlandic picture stones are iconic. They are among the internationally most famous historical monuments from Sweden. These exceptional memorial stones, conventionally dated to about AD 400-1100, are covered with images of humans, animals, monsters, carriages, ships, and geometrical figures. They are a unique source for studies of male and female dress, weapons, riding techniques, wagons and ships as well as Old Norse myths and early Christianity. In this lecture, Sigmund Oehrl, professor for archaeology at the University of Stavanger and until recently researcher at Stockholm University, will explain the problems of documenting Gotlandic picture stones, the research-historical background and new digital approaches that have led to the digitisation project »Ancient Images 2.0«, which was initiated in 2019 and is funded by the Swedish Research Council until 2024. The aim of the project is to create an interactive digital edition of the material. The edition will be based on a new inventory, new research, a collection of archival material, and a digital documentation of all picture stones known to date. The digital documentation (3D modelling) is based on advanced photogrammetry. The digital edition of all picture stones, which is still in progress but will soon go online, will forever change the basis for any research on these unique historical monuments. Besides, the digital documentation will preserve fundamental knowledge of these vulnerable monuments and will provide means for their future preservation. As a side project and in addition to “Ancient Images 2.0”, the speaker also deals with the afterlife of the picture stones in the Middle Ages and their reuse as building material in the Gotlandic rural churches. This research project, funded by the Swedish Wallenberg Foundation, will also be presented.

As always, everyone is welcome from 4 o'clock, and the talk will begin a quarter past.

The talk will be streamed on zoom as well.