20px, Togariishi ruins The is a municipal museum located in the city of Chino,

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the ...

, Japan, specializing in artifacts of 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 ...

(between 14,000 and 1000 BCE).

Togariishi Museum of Jōmon Archaeology

The museum was opened in July 2000. Its collection includes over two thousand artifacts includes two

dogū are small humanoid and animal figurines made during the later part of the Jōmon period (14,000–400 BC) of prehistoric Japan. ''Dogū'' come exclusively from the Jōmon period, and were no longer made by the following Yayoi period. There are ...

'' that have been designated National Treasures, the "

Jōmon Venus The is a ''dogū'', a humanoid clay female figurine from the Middle Jōmon period (3,000–2,000 BC),. discovered in 1986 in Chino, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. It was designated a National Treasure in 1995, the first Jōmon-period artifact ...

" and the "Masked Goddess".

The Togariishi stone age ruins

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 large scale

settlement located in the Toyohira neighborhood of the city of Chino, Nagano. It was one of the first Jōmon period settlements found in Japan. The site was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1942 and a Special National Historic Site in 1952. Despite the designation “Stone Age” in its name, the site has no connection with the

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 ...

period. The site is located on along plateau at the foot of

Mount Yatsugatake , also known as just Yatsugatake is a volcanic group of inactive volcanoes located on the border of Nagano Prefecture and Yamanashi Prefecture on Honshū in Japan. Description The Southern Yatsugatake Volcanic Group is part of the Yatsugatake Mo ...

at an elevation of 1000 meters. The area around Mount Yatsugatake has a very high concentration of Jōmon period ruins, partly because of abundant spring water and over 50 mid-Jōmon sites have been identified in the near vicinity of the Togariishi site. Although the ruins were known since the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, they were first excavated by the archaeologist Hidekazu Miyasaka in 1929. At that time, the foundations of 33

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 arranged in a U-shape around a central plaza were discovered, along with numerous artifacts, including

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 Jap ...

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, jewelry and

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 ...

tools. The site was approximately 170 meters from east-to-west by 90 meters from north-to-south. In addition to the pit dwelling traces, 53 hearth sites, rows of standing stones, clay figurines, storage pits and grave sites were found. This was the first confirmed example of a complete settlement from the Jōmon period, and was thus the forerunner of the study of that period of Japanese history. Further postwar excavations have revealed that the site contains at least 220 residence sites, making it the largest settlement thus found in the vicinity of Mount Yatsugatake. The area covered by the Special Historical Site designation was expanded in 1993.

References

External links

Togariishi Museum of Jōmon Archaeology

{{authority control Chino, Nagano Museums in Nagano Prefecture Archaeological museums in Japan Jōmon period Museums established in 2000 2000 establishments in Japan Archaeological sites in Japan Special Historic Sites History of Nagano Prefecture

Togariishi Museum of Jōmon Archaeology

The Togariishi stone age ruins

See also

References

External links