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

with traces of a late

Japanese Paleolithic The is the period of human inhabitation in Japan predating the development of pottery, generally before 10,000 BC. The starting dates commonly given to this period are from around 40,000 BC, with recent authors suggesting that there is good evi ...

period, located in the town of Minamitane,

Kagoshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,527,019 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 9,187 Square kilometre, km2 (3,547 Square m ...

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 ...

, and the island of

Tanegashima is one of the Ōsumi Islands belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, in area, is the second largest of the Ōsumi Islands, and has a population of 33,000 people. Access to the island is by ferry, or by air to New Tanegashima Airp ...

. The site was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 2003, and subsequently the designation was expanded to include the nearby Tachikiri Site in 2022.

Overview

The Yokomine Site is the first Paleolithic site discovered on Tanegashima. During excavations in 1992, and traces of human habitation from the Paleolithic through the

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 ...

was discovered, including the oldest cooking site remains yet found in Japan, in the soil layer dating back approximately 30,000 years per

radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for Chronological dating, determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of carbon-14, radiocarbon, a radioactive Isotop ...

. Two pieces of

stone tools 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 ...

were also excavated. The site is located on a plateau about 120 meters above sea level, about two kilometers inland from the west coast of the island. In an upper level of the

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum (: strata) is a layer of Rock (geology), rock or sediment characterized by certain Lithology, lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by v ...

, dating to approximately 6,300 years ago, five stone collection structures from the early Jōmon period were found, along with shards of

Jōmon pottery The is a type of ancient earthenware pottery which was made during the Jōmon period in Japan. The term "Jōmon" () means "rope-patterned" in Japanese, describing the patterns that are pressed into the clay. Outline Oldest pottery in J ...

The Tachikiri Site is located in the town of

Nakatane, Kagoshima 270px, coast of Nakatane is a town located on the island of Tanegashima, in Kumage District, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 7,196 in 4087 households, and a population density of 53 persons per km2. The to ...

, also at an elevation of approximately 120 feet. During a prefectural farm road network improvement project in 1997, remains were found in the lower strata of the Tanede IV volcanic ash layer (30,900 years ago), which originated from the Kikakai caldera (located on the ocean floor west of Tanegashima). Approximately 50 stone tools from the early Paleolithic period were unearthed. These tools were from a period of transition from the Middle Paleolithic to the Upper Paleolithic, in which the form of stone tools changed significantly. The remains also included eight earthen pits/fire pits (remains of burned clay) and two gravel groups (remains of steamed cooking), which are presumed to be

prehistoric storage pits Storage pits are underground cists that were used historically to protect the seeds for the following year's crops, and to stop surplus food from being eaten by insects and rodents. These underground pits were sometimes lined and covered, for ...

, as well as five posthole-shaped pits.

References

External links

Minamitane Town home pageKagoshima Prefecture home page
{in lang, ja History of Kagoshima Prefecture Historic Sites of Japan Paleolithic sites in Japan

Overview

See also

References

External links