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 traces of a middle

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 ...

settlement located in the Yoshii neighborhood of the city of

Kashiwazaki, Niigata is a city located in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 81,836 in 34,883 households, and a population density of 187 persons per km². The total area of the city was . Geography Kashiwazaki is located in a co ...

in the

Hokuriku region The was located in the northwestern part of Honshu, the main island of Japan. It lay along the Sea of Japan within the Chūbu region, which it is currently a part of. It is almost equivalent to Koshi Province and Hokurikudō area in pre-modern ...

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 was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1979.

Overview

The Shimoyachi Site is located approximately five kilometers northeast of the urban center of Kashiwazaki, approximately at the center of a small marshy plain behind the dunes along the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

coast. It contains the ruins of a village from in the middle of the Yayoi period (approximately 2000 years ago), which was excavated by the Niigata Prefectural Board of Education from 1977 to 1978. As the settlement was located in marshy lowlands, it was surrounded by a ditch for drainage, with dirt taken from the ditch piled up to make a rough levee. Six unique circular

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 ...

s were discovered, which had a diameter of five to nine meters surrounding a central hearth. Other rectangular structures were also identified. In addition, the site had approximately 160 mounds in various shapes: circular, elliptical, and square arranged in two rows, which seem to have been used for various purposes. Some were grave tumuli containing the remains of wooden coffins, and others appeared to be used as storage pits. Numerous examples of

Yayoi pottery Yayoi pottery (弥生土器 Yayoi doki) is earthenware pottery produced during the Yayoi period, an Iron Age era in the history of Japan, by an Island which was formerly native to Japan traditionally dated 300 BC to AD 300. The pottery allow ...

were found, including pots for storage and pots for cooking. The style was mostly a combed design common throughout the Hokuriku region, but there were also a large number of pieces from

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

, indicating long-distance trade. The village appeared to be a mass-production center for

jadeite Jadeite is a pyroxene mineral with composition sodium, Naaluminium, Alsilicon, Si2oxygen, O6. It is hard (Mohs hardness of about 6.5 to 7.0), very tough, and dense, with a specific gravity of about 3.4. It is found in a wide range of colors, bu ...

balls and cylindrical beads, mortar balls and sling balls, as numerous items in the intermediate stages of production were also found.

Paddy field A paddy field is a flooded field (agriculture), field of arable land used for growing Aquatic plant, semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in sout ...

s were not discovered at the site, but a large amount of carbonized rice and stone sickles for harvesting rice were excavated, indicating that rice cultivation existed in the area. The site was backfilled after excavation, with no reconstruction or public facilities. It is located about 15 minutes by car from

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 ...

Shin'etsu Main Line The Shinetsu Main Line ( ja, 信越本線, ) is a railway line, consisting of three geographically separated sections, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in Japan. It was originally one continuous line connecting and via . S ...

Kashiwazaki Station is a railway station in the city of Kashiwazaki, Niigata, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It is also a freight terminal for the Japan Freight Railway Company. Lines Kashiwazaki Station is served by both the Shinetsu Ma ...

References

External links

Kashiwazaki City Tourist Information home page
{{in lang, ja Yayoi period Archaeological sites in Japan History of Niigata Prefecture Kashiwazaki, Niigata Historic Sites of Japan

Overview

See also

References

External links