is a middle

Jōmon period In Japanese history, the is the time between , during which Japan was inhabited by the Jōmon people, a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united by a common culture, which reached a considerable degree of sedentism an ...

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

in the town of Ichinohe,

Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...

, in the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, , or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains ...

of northern

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Discovered during the construction of an

industrial park An industrial park, also known as industrial estate or trading estate, is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more heavyweight version of a business park or office par ...

in 1989, the area was designated a National Historic Site in 1993 by the Japanese government.

Overview

The Goshono ruins consist of a large scale residential settlement from the middle Jōmon Period, approximately 2500 BC to 2000 BC. The site is located on a

river terrace Fluvial terraces are elongated terraces that flank the sides of floodplains and fluvial valleys all over the world. They consist of a relatively level strip of land, called a "tread", separated from either an adjacent floodplain, other fluvial t ...

on the east bank of the

Mabechi River 270px, Ogami Rock overlooking the Basenkyō ravine in Iwate The is a river located in northern Iwate Prefecture and eastern Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of northern Honshū in Japan. Overview The Mabechi River is long and has a wat ...

, on raised ground at an altitude of approximately 190 meters, in an area forested with

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

zelkova ''Zelkova'' (from the Georgian language, Georgian ''dzelkva'', 'stone pillar') is a genus of six species of deciduous trees in the elm family Ulmaceae, native to southern Europe, and southwest and eastern Asia. They vary in size from shrubs (''Ze ...

and

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Description ...

trees. There are the foundations of over 800

pit dwelling A pit-house (or pit house, pithouse) is a house built in the ground and used for shelter. Besides providing shelter from the most extreme of weather conditions, this type of earth shelter may also be used to store food (just like a pantry, a lar ...

s extending over 75,000 m² and the site has only partially been excavated. The settlement contains two or three groups of pit-house dwellings, located to the east and west of a central ceremonial area containing a

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

and ritual buildings. Nearby earthen mounds have yielded burned animal bones, seeds, pottery shards and stone tools. The eastern settlement contains more than 250 pit-dwellings of various sizes and a number of graves. The central settlement has two

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being ...

s, with diameters of 80 meters by 50 meters, surrounding grave pits, encircled by what appear to be post holes to create a colonnade and to support ritual buildings. The southern portion of this area is raised earthen work, within which a large amount of pottery, stone tools, and burnt bone and plant remnants. The number of structures is also estimated to be between 300 and 500. The area also contains at least 20 dome-shaped ''

kofun are megalithic tombs or tumulus, tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century AD.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞 ...

'' burial tumuli, with diameters of 8–10 meters, most of which have the remnants of horseshoe-shaped moats. The western area is largely unexcavated, but appears to be a residential area with between 70 and 100 dwellings. The site is now open to the public as an

archaeological park An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and ...

which contains a museum and reconstructions of some pit-dwellings and other structures. The museum building, which was designed after the mud-roofed buildings of the site, has won various awards such as the 2003 Good Design Award, and has a glass floor, under which a burnt-down pit dwelling from 4000 years ago can be viewed. The site is one of several submitted for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List as one of the Jōmon Archaeological Sites in Hokkaidō, Northern Tōhoku, and other regions. The site is located about 20 minutes by car from

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

Ninohe Station.

References

External links

Iwate Prefecture Tourism siteKuji city tourism site

{in lang, ja Tourist attractions in Iwate Prefecture Archaeological type sites Archaeological parks Ichinohe, Iwate Historic Sites of Japan History of Iwate Prefecture Museums in Iwate Prefecture Stone circles in Asia Jōmon period sites

Overview

See also

References

External links