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 recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

consisting of a

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 ...

shell midden A midden is an old landfill, dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bone, bones, feces, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, Lithic flake, lithics (especially debitage), and other Artifact (archaeology), ...

and the remains of an adjacent settlement located in what is now the city of Ōfunato,

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 ...

. It has been protected by the central government as a National Historic Site since 1934.Iwate Prefectural home page
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Overview

During the early to middle Jōmon period (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 Tōhoku region was inhabited by the

Jōmon people The Jōmon (縄文) were a prehistoric hunter-gatherer culture that inhabited the Japanese archipelago approximately between 14,000 BC and 300 BC. Both genetically and culturally, the Jōmon are among the earliest known ancestors of the modern ...

, many of whom lived in coastal settlements. The

midden A midden is an old dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bones, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human oc ...

s 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, ...

botanical Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

material,

mollusc shell The mollusc (or mollusk) shell is typically a calcareous exoskeleton which encloses, supports and protects the soft parts of an animal in the phylum Mollusca, which includes snails, clams, tusk shells, and several other classes. Not all shelled ...

sherd This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F ...

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 ...

, and other artifacts and

ecofact In archaeology, a biofact (or 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. Biofacts can include but are n ...

s associated with the now-vanished inhabitants, and these

features Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature recognition, could be a hole, pocket, or notch * Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob * Feature (machine learning), in statistics: individual measurable properties of the phenome ...

, 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. Most of these middens are found along the

Pacific coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas North America Countries on the western side of North America have a Pacific coast as their western or south-western border. One of th ...

of Japan. The rocky

ria coast A ria (; , feminine noun derived from ''río'', river) is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea. Definitions Typically rias have a dendritic ...

was densely settled from the early through late Jōmon period, and the locations of such coastal settlements are often marked by shell middens containing the remains of shellfish, fish, animal and whale bones and human-produced artifacts, including earthenware shards, fishing hooks, etc. The rocky

ria A ria (; , feminine noun derived from ''río'', river) is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea. Definitions Typically rias have a dendriti ...

s coast of

was densely settled from the early through late Jōmon period. In particular, the deeply indented Ōfunato Bay area was a rich fishing ground and is the location of 16 known Jōmon -period shell middens, a number of which have been designated National Historic Sites. The Takonoura shell midden dates from the early to middle Jōmon period, and is located on a hill on the east side of the Ōfunato Bay in the Ashinozaki, Anozaki-cho neighborhood. It was partially excavated in 1957 by

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

. The midden is annular, forming a

shell ring Shell rings are archaeological sites with curved shell middens completely or partially surrounding a clear space. The rings were sited next to estuaries that supported large populations of shellfish, usually oysters. Shell rings have been reported ...

, but truncated to the east and southwest, and has a thickness of over two meters, indicating that it had been used for many centuries. An unusual feature of the midden is that some layers consist almost exclusively of a certain type of artifact (for example, only oyster shells, or only fish bones, etc). However, in general, the midden has a typically mixed composition including many varieties of shellfish, fish bones, and the bones of mammals such as dogs,

Sitka deer The Sitka deer or Sitka black-tailed deer (''Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis'') is a subspecies of mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus''), similar to the black-tailed deer, Columbian black-tailed subspecies (''O. h. colombianus''). Their name origin ...

, whales, wolves and dolphins. In addition,

stone axe Stone tools have been used throughout human history but are most closely associated with prehistoric cultures and in particular those of the Stone Age. Stone tools may be made of either ground stone or knapped stone, the latter fashioned by a c ...

s, weights, and carved bone objects, such as fishhooks, and bone jewelry have been found. The site also contains traces of dwelling foundations and eight sets of human remains. The site was backfilled after excavation, and there is now little above ground except for an explanatory plaque. The site is located approximately fifteen minutes by car from

Rikuzen-Akasaki Station was a railway station on the Sanriku Railway Company’s Rias Line located in the city of Ōfunato, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. It is 3.7 rail kilometers from the terminus of the line at Sakari Station. Station layout Rikuzen-Akasaki Station has ...

on the

Sanriku Railway The is a railway company in Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan. The company and its lines are also known as . The company was founded in 1981, as the first " third-sector" (half public, half private) railway line in the country, excluding specia ...

Rias Line The is a railway company in Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan. The company and its lines are also known as . The company was founded in 1981, as the first " third-sector" (half public, half private) railway line in the country, excluding specia ...

References

External links

Iwate Prefecture site

Ofunato city home page
{{in lang, ja Ōfunato, Iwate History of Iwate Prefecture Historic Sites of Japan Jōmon-period shell middens Jōmon-period ruins

Overview

See also

References

External links