270px, A cross section of the shell mound is on display at Setouchi Civic Library Momiwa Square The is 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 historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

in the

Oku Oku or OKU may refer to: *Oku, Cameroon, subdivision in the Northwest Region of Cameroon ** Lake Oku, a crater lake on the Bamenda Plateau in the Northwest Region of Cameroon ** Mount Oku, the largest volcano in the Oku Massif, in the Cameroon Volc ...

neighborhood of the city of Setouchi,

Okayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 7,114 km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefecture borders Tottori Prefecture to the nor ...

, in the

San'yō region The San'yō Region (山陽地方 ''San'yō-chihō'') is an area in the south of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It consists of the southern part of the Chūgoku region, facing the Seto Inland Sea. The name ''San'yō'' means "southern, sunny ...

of western Japan. It contains a

shell midden A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ec ...

and the traces of a prehistoric settlement, and was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1985.

Overview

During the early to middle

Jōmon period The is the time in Japanese history, traditionally dated between 6,000–300 BCE, during which Japan was inhabited by a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united through a common Jōmon culture, which reached a ...

(approximately 4000 to 2500 BC), sea levels were five to six meters higher than at present, and the ambient temperature was also 2 deg C higher. During this period, the Kantō region was inhabited by the

Jōmon people is the generic name of several ethnic group, peoples who lived in the Japanese archipelago during the Jōmon period (). The Jōmon people may have consisted of multiple groups, which arrived and merged at different times in the Japanese archipelag ...

, many of whom lived in coastal settlements. The middens associated with such settlements contain

bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...

botanical Botany, also called plant science (or plant sciences), plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany ...

material,

mollusc shell The mollusc (or molluskOften spelled mollusk shell in the USA; the spelling "mollusc" are preferred by ) shell is typically a calcareous exoskeleton which encloses, supports and protects the soft parts of an animal in the phylum Mollusca, which ...

s, sherds,

lithics Lithic may refer to: *Relating to stone tools ** Lithic analysis, the analysis of stone tools and other chipped stone artifacts **Lithic core, the part of a stone which has had flakes removed from it **Lithic flake, the portion of a rock removed to ...

, and other

artifact Artifact, or artefact, may refer to: Science and technology * Artifact (error), misleading or confusing alteration in data or observation, commonly in experimental science, resulting from flaws in technique or equipment ** Compression artifact, a ...

s and

ecofact In archaeology, a biofact (more commonly known as an ecofact) is any organic material including flora or fauna material found at an archaeological site that has not been technologically altered by humans yet still has cultural relevance. Biofact ...

s associated with the now-vanished inhabitants, and these

features Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature (CAD), could be a hole, pocket, or notch * Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob * Feature (software design) is an intentional distinguishing characteristic of a software item ...

, provide a useful source into the

diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

s and habits of Jōmon society. Some of these middens continued toy be used in then subsequent

Yayoi period The started at the beginning of the Neolithic in Japan, continued through the Bronze Age, and towards its end crossed into the Iron Age. Since the 1980s, scholars have argued that a period previously classified as a transition from the Jōmon p ...

(300 BCE to 300 CE) and even later. Most of the 2400 known shell middens are found along the

Pacific coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the P ...

of Japan. The Kadota Shell Mound is located on a natural embankment of the east bank of the

Yoshii River The Yoshii River is a river in Okayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 7,114 km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okay ...

near the coast of the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osa ...

. Discovered by a local historian in 1934, it was excavated in 1950, and again in 1962, 1966 and 1982. It is estimated to extend over 200 meters from east-to-west and over 100 meters from north-to-south at an elevation of 2.4 meters above the present sea-level. The midden consists of the shells of clams and oysters, as well as animal bones from wild boars, deer, and

raccoon dog The common raccoon dog (''Nyctereutes procyonoides''), also called the Chinese or Asian raccoon dog, is a small, heavy-set, fox-like canid native to East Asia. Named for its raccoon-like face markings, it is most closely related to foxes. Common ...

s, birds, and fish. In addition,

Yayoi pottery Yayoi pottery (弥生土器 Yayoi doki) is earthenware pottery produced during the Yayoi period, an Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the St ...

and

stone tool A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...

s such as

stone axe A hand axe (or handaxe or Acheulean hand axe) is a prehistoric stone tool with two faces that is the longest-used tool in human history, yet there is no academic consensus on what they were used for. It is made from stone, usually flint or c ...

s and arrowheads were also discovered. Traces of unhulled rice have also been confirmed inside one of the jars. The excavated Yayoi pottery has distinctive markings, making this location

type site In archaeology, a type site is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it. For example, discoveries at La Tène and Hallstatt led scholars to divide the European Iron ...

for "Kadota type pottery", as an index for dating in the Seto Inland Sea coastal region. In addition, earthenware for making salt and mortars were excavated, confirming that salt was being made in the early Yayoi period. In the vicinity of the shell mound, the remains of a

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, these structures may also be used to store food (just like a pantry, a larde ...

and part of a building with pillars built into the ground, have been discovered, suggesting that there were settlement ruins dating from the early Yayoi period nearby. This settlement appears to have continuously occupied into the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first '' shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

. Today, the site has been developed as Kadota Kaizuka Historical Park, with reconstructions of pit dwellings. It is located about five minutes on foot from Oku Station on the

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...

Akō Line is a railway line owned by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) between Aioi, Hyōgo to Okayama, Okayama in Japan. A loop line off the Sanyō Main Line, the Akō Line commences at Aioi, is situated south of the main line approximately paralle ...

.A cross section of the shell mound is on display at Setouchi Civic Library Momiwa Square. Artifacts excavated from the site were previously stored and displaced at the Setouchi Municipal Oku Local Museum, which is now closed.

References

External links

Setouchi City home page

Okayama Prefecture home page
{{Authority control Yayoi period Setouchi, Okayama Shell middens in Japan History of Okayama Prefecture Historic Sites of Japan

Overview

See also

References

External links