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 ...

containing the ruins of a middle to late

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 ...

settlement located in the Shige-no-otsu neighborhood of the city of

Tōmi, Nagano is a city located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 29,440 in 12,068 households, and a population density of 262 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Tōmi is located in east-central Na ...

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 ...

. The site was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1933.

Overview

The Intate site is located on the southern slopes of a hill with an elevation of 770 meters between the Nishizawa and Osuzawa Rivers. Discovered in 1930, early

archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

s uncovered the foundations 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 larder ...

with a cobblestone floor, stone-lined hearth, bone fragments, Jōmon pottery, and a polished

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 che ...

, which led the site to be designated a National Historic Site. A restored

, one the first such faux restorations in the country, was constructed on the site to cover the ruins, but it was later destroyed by lightning. Further excavations from 1983 to 1984 discovered that the pit dwelling was part of a much larger village, covering a 63,000 to 80,000 square meter area. Several restored pit houses were reconstructed in 1988, forming 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 ...

. It is located about 40 minutes on foot from

Shigeno Station is a railway station on the Shinano Railway Line in the city of Tōmi, Nagano, Japan, operated by the third-sector railway operating company Shinano Railway. Lines Shigeno Station is served by the 65.1 km Shinano Railway Line and is 27.9 ...

in the Shinano Railway.

References

External links

Tōmi official site
{{in lang, ja History of Nagano Prefecture Tōmi, Nagano Historic Sites of Japan Jōmon period sites

Overview

See also

References

External links