Ottenby

Ottenby is a nature reserve at the southern tip of the island of Öland in Sweden. Ottenby was previously a royal game reserve stocked with fallow deer, and King Charles X Gustav of Sweden built a drystone wall to confine the native deer. The reserve is situated at the southern edge of the Stora Alvaret, a unique limestone pavement ecosystem designated as a World Heritage Site comprising most of the southern half of the island of Öland.^[1] Ottenby offers diverse habitats including coastal marsh, marine, woodland and alvar. Nearest villages include Alby, Hulterstad, Gettlinge and Triberga.

Area prehistory

The oldest known human settlement on the southern part of Oland is slightly to the north at Alby dating to the mesolithic era showing the presence of hunter-gatherers.^[2] The village prehistory dates to the early Stone Age when settlers from the mainland migrated across the ice bridge connecting the island via the Kalmar Strait about 6000 to 7000 BC.

References

1. ^ Hakan Sandbring and Martin Borg, Oland: Island of Stone and Green, May, 1997
2. ^ C.Michael Hogan, Alby Mesolithic Village, The Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham, 2007

Coordinates: 56°11′49″N 16°23′56″E / 56.19694°N 16.39889°E / 56.19694; 16.39889