The is an archaeological site consisting shallow pits from which

obsidian Obsidian () is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Obsidian is produced from felsic lava, rich in the lighter elements s ...

had been mined during the

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 c ...

. It is located in the Daimon neighborhood of the town of Nagawa in the

Chūbu region The , Central region, or is a region in the middle of Honshu, Honshū, Japan, Japan's main island. In a wide, classical definition, it encompasses nine prefectures (''ken''): Aichi Prefecture, Aichi, Fukui Prefecture, Fukui, Gifu Prefecture ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It has been protected as a National Historic Site since 2001.

Overview

The Hoshikuso Pass is located northwest of

Mount Kirigamine is a 1,925m volcano, located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Outline The tallest peak of Mount Kirigamine is Mount Kuruma, on which there is a weather radar site. Most of the mountain is covered in grass with sparse bushes and rocks. The south an ...

and northeast of Lake Suwa, in an area where numerous

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; although any date of human presence before 35,000 BC ...

remains have been found. Obsidian, or ''hoshikuso'' (literally "star-shit") as it was known in the local dialect, was frequently used for

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 and weapons in the Paleolithic and Jōmon periods as it could be easily fractured by lithic reduction to produce sharp blades or arrowheads. Obsidian occurs in certain volcanic formation around Japan, and obsidian artifacts from Nagano Prefecture have been found widely distributed to many distant regions of Japan, indicating that some form of long distance trade has existed even from the Paleolithic period. The Hoshikuso Pass obsidian mine site is located at an elevation of 500 to 1500 meters, with the obsidian distributed all over the slope in a 220-meter north-to-south by 300 meter east-to-west orientation. Within this area archaeologists have found numerous crater-shaped shallow indentations, each about ten meters in diameter and two to three meters in depth. Some craters overlap, and others have their sides reinforced with embossed stones and debris. The site also contains the remains of a workshop with a hearth, and numerous fragments and lithic cores and shards created by the knapping of obsidian into stone tools. It is not possible to accurately establish the dates during which the site was used, but it is estimated that it was functional since the earliest Jōmon period to the final Jōmon period. Hoshikuso Pass Obsidian

The area is open to the public as a historic park with a walkway and explanatory placards. At the foot of the pass is the operated by Nagawa Town, in connection with the Obsidian Research Center of

Meiji University , abbreviated as Meiji (明治) or Meidai (明大'')'', is a private research university located in Chiyoda City, the heart of Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1881 as Meiji Law School (明治法律学校, ''Meiji Hōritsu Gakkō'') by three Meiji-er ...

, which opened in 2004. It is approximately one hour by car from

Chino Station is a railway station on the Chūō Main Line in the city of Chino, Nagano, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). Lines Chino Station is served by the Chūō Main Line, and is 195.2 kilometers from the terminal station, termin ...

on the

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is 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 ...

Chūō Main Line The , commonly called the Chūō Line, is one of the major trunk railway lines in Japan. It connects Tokyo and Nagoya, although it is the slowest direct railway connection between the two cities; the coastal Tōkaidō Main Line is slightly faste ...

References

External links

Nagawa town official site

phamplet by Nagano Prefectural GovernmentObsidian Experience Museum
{in lang, ja Nagawa, Nagano History of Nagano Prefecture Historic Sites of Japan Mines in Japan Obsidian Jōmon period sites

Overview

See also

References

External links