Eksta is a populated area, a

socken Socken ( or ) is the name used for a part of a counties of Sweden, county in Sweden. In Denmark, similar areas are known as , in Norway or and in Finland or . A is a rural area formed around a church, typically in the Middle Ages. A socken ...

(not to be confused with

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

), on the Swedish island of

Gotland Gotland (; ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a Provinces of Sweden, province/Counties of Sweden, county (Swedish län), Municipalities of Sweden, municipality, a ...

. It comprises the same area as the administrative Eksta District, established on 1January 2016.

Geography

Eksta is situated on the southwest coast of Gotland. The

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

Eksta Church is located in the socken. The two islands

Stora Karlsö Stora Karlsö is a small Swedish island in the Baltic Sea, situated about west of the island of Gotland and part of Eksta socken. Environment Stora Karlsö has an area of about . It is mainly a limestone plateau, up to in height, bordered by ...

and

Lilla Karlsö Lilla Karlsö is a small Swedish island in the Baltic Sea, situated about off the west coast of Gotland and from Stora Karlsö; it is part of Eksta socken. During summer there are tour boats from Djupvik south of Klintehamn. Environment The ...

just off the coast of Gotland are also part of Eksta. , Eksta Church belongs to Eksta

in Klinte

pastorat The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest Lu ...

History

The remains of a

Pitted Ware culture The Pitted Ware culture ( 3500 BC– 2300 BC) was a hunter-gatherer culture in southern Scandinavia, mainly along the coasts of Svealand, Götaland, Åland, north-eastern Denmark and southern Norway. Despite its Mesolithic economy, it ...

settlement along with 85 graves from that Middle

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

period, have been found at Ajvide in Eksta. The settlement has been excavated and is known as the

Ajvide Settlement The Ajvide Settlement () is located in Ajvide, Eksta, on the western coast of Gotland, Sweden. It covers an area of and was occupied from the Late Mesolithic through to the mid Bronze Age. The majority of the activity on the site took place du ...

, (). Ajvide is also known for its beach meadow, Ajvide strandänge, one of only two on Gotland that are still used for harvesting hay.

References

External links

Objects from Eksta at the Digital Museum
by

Nordic Museum The Nordic Museum () is a museum located on Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm, Sweden, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the early modern period (in Swedish history, it is said to begin in 1520) to the ...

Populated places in Gotland County {{Gotland-geo-stub