The Ōfune Site (大船遺跡, Ōfune iseki) is an archaeological site consisting of a series of large shell middens and the remains of an adjacent settlement from the Jōmon period.
The Ōfune Site was a community with over 100 pit dwellings, including smaller family homes and some larger homes that were inhabited from 3500 BC to 2000 BC. The dates of the site's habitation correspond to the early and middle Jōmon period of Japanese history. The community was positioned alongside the Pacific Ocean, enabling easy access to fishing and whaling grounds and providing an avenue for the site's people to trade extensively with other communities in the Tōhoku region. Pottery from the Tōhoku region and central Hokkaido was found in the sites burial mound, providing basis for the site's function as a trade center.
The Ōfune Site was discovered during surveying work in 1996. Initial discoveries included a large pit dwelling, embankments, and a storage pit.
The Ōfune Site is one of the Jōmon Archaeological Sites in Hokkaidō, Northern Tōhoku, and other regions, a group of Jōmon period archaeological sites in Hokkaido and northern Tōhoku that was recommended by Japan in 2020 for inclusion to the UNESCO World Heritage List, under criteria iii and iv. The submission currently resides on the Tentative List.
References:Carlsten is a stone fortress built on the orders of King Carl X of Sweden following the Treaty of Roskilde, 1658 to protect the newly acquired province of Bohuslän from hostile attacks. The site of Marstrand was chosen because of its location and its access to an ice free port. Initially a square stone tower was constructed, but by 1680 it was reconstructed and replaced by a round shaped tower. Successive additions to the fortress were carried out, by the inmates sentenced to hard labour, until 1860 when it was reported finished. The fortress was decommissioned as a permanent defense installation in 1882, but remained in military use until the early 1990s.
The fortress was attacked and sieged twice falling into enemy hands. In 1677 it was conquered by Ulrik Frederick Gyldenløve, the Danish military commander in Norway and in 1719 by the Norwegian Vice-Admiral Tordenskjold. At both occasions the fortress was returned to Swedish control through negotiations and treaties.