<p>Eketorp Castle in Stora Alvaret in Degerhamn on the Swedish island of Öland is a rebuilt Fornborg on the foundations of an older facility. The first castle complex in the inhospitable area in the south of Öland was built in the Iron Age (around 300 AD), rebuilt and expanded in three phases until the 13th century and abandoned at the time of Christianization. The 4th century castle was a round complex with a diameter of about 57 meters, of which the curtain wall and the radial interior buildings are essentially secured. In the 5th century it was torn down and a new curtain wall with a diameter of about 80 meters was built around the old center. There were around 50 cells within the curtain wall, some of which were on the inside of the wall and later also in the center. At the end of the 7th century the second facility was abandoned and remained unused for about 300 years. In the 11th century, the curtain wall was rebuilt, but the stone interior was replaced by wooden houses. Instead, there was a second outer circular wall sector, through which, directed counterclockwise, i.e. militarily nonsensical, access to the complex was regulated. The once three-door facility was limited to one entrance at the time. There are 15, and probably another 18, such systems on Öland. The curtain wall and the battlements were rebuilt in the style of the second settlement. The interior development consists of stone houses of the second and wooden houses of the third phase of use. A selection of the 26,000 finds made during the excavations is shown in the museum within the reconstructed houses of the complex.</p>
