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Despite the fact that Gotska Sandön is one of our most isolated islands, traces of humans dating from the Stone Age have been found. Probably people didn’t live here for longer periods and some researchers say that the finds originate from fishermen and seal hunters who happened to make their base on the island. The finds are on quite a small scale. The relatively large stone cairns at Höga land remind us that people were living here during the Viking Age.
In spite of unfortunate circumstances such as grave robberies, the dispersal of the lighthousekeeper Hjälmar Söderlund’s collection, and the shipwreck of the geologist Wennersten, who had finds on board, there are a number of artefacts in safekeeping at the Museum of National Antiquities and the Historical Museum of Gotland. The finds that can be dated to the Middle Ages show that the population of Gotska Sandön then was probably of a more permanent nature. Extensive traces of dwelling places and artefacts have been found close to Gamla gården (the Old Farm) and Säludden (Seal Point).
The island is not mentioned in written sources until 1539 and then it appears on the Carta Marina, Olaus Magnus’ map of the North. In a sailing description from 1568, Gotska Sandön is said to be “a little country where no people are living”. This could possibly be interpreted as if the population was either very little or that the island was only inhabited during certain periods. In older documents it can be read that the island was rented by the people of Fårö and owned by the Danish monarchy. By the treaty of Brömsebro in 1645, Gotska Sandön became Swedish territory.
The people of Fårö had their fishing hamlet at Seal Point and from the beginning of the 17th century took turns utilising Sandön as a base for seal hunting and fishing. Besides hunting and fishing, they also kept sheep. According to certain sources there were about 200 sheep grazing on the island. In 1758 the State sold the island to Johan Lythberg-Larsson, a merchant from Visby who intended to use the island for sheep farming. The period up until 1762 was one of conflict between the State, the farmers of Fårö and Lythberg-Larsson. In 1772 the Fårö farmers regained the right to rent the island but in 1781 they resigned this right since the Swedish monarch would not exempt them from a surveyor fee. During the period 1783- 1859, the so-called private ownership era, the island was owned purely by private interests. In 1859 the State took over the island and the lighthouse epoch began.
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