Alby, Öland

Alby is a village on the Baltic Sea in the Hulterstad district at the western fringe of the Stora Alvaret. Archaeological evidence indicates this settlement to have been one of the oldest on the island of Öland, with excavations, dating to the paleolithic era, showing the presence of hunter-gatherers. 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. These early inhabitants are known in the archaeological literature as the Alby People.

In the earliest times villagers subsisted by hunting, fishing and gathering, but by 4000 BC farming supplanted that lifestyle, and continues to the year 2006 to be the primary livelihood. The village lies atop the low lying north-south coastal ridge that defines the separation of the coastal plain from the Stora Alvaret. Alby is situated along the two-lane east coast highway, with the communities of Hulterstad and Triberga to the south; to the north lie the villages of Stagerstad and Stena. Alby is a component of the Stora Alvaret, which land has been designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO due to its extraordinary biodiversity and prehistory.

Alby is situated on the southeastern coast of the island of Öland and is bisected by the two lane Sweden Route 136, which is the main perimeter highway of the island. Öland is Sweden's second largest island and is located in the Baltic Sea off of the southeast Swedish mainland. Further south on Highway 136 lie the villages of Triberga (one kilometer) and Hulterstad (three kilometers). The village of Stagerstad is found two kilometers to the north on the perimeter highway. The closest sizable city is Färjestaden, which is situated 25 kilometers to the northwest at the Kalmar Strait bridge landing on the Öland side.

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