} 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 ...

containing the ruins of a mid-

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 ...

(2500–1500 BCE) settlement located in the Ōmiyama neighborhood of the village of

Kawakami, Nagano is a village located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the village had an estimated population of 4,009 in 1419 households, and a population density of 19 persons per km2. The total area of the village is . The village office is located at an altit ...

in the

Chūbu region The , Central region, or is a region in the middle of Honshū, Japan's main island. In a wide, classical definition, it encompasses nine prefectures (''ken''): Aichi, Fukui, Gifu, Ishikawa, Nagano, Niigata, Shizuoka, Toyama, and Ya ...

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 ...

. The site was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1966.

Overview

The Ōmiyama site is located on a plateau on the southeastern slope 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 altitude of 1300 meters, near the right bank of the headwaters of the

Chikuma River The , known as the in its upper reaches, is the longest and widest river in Japan and the third largest by basin area (behind the Tone River and Ishikari River). It is located in northeastern Honshu, rising in the Japanese Alps and flowing g ...

. It was found during the construction of a forestry road. At an elevation of over 1300 meters, it is the highest of the Jōmon period ruins yet discovered around Mount Yatsugatake and one of the highest in Japan. It was excavated from 1953, during which time a dense concentration of over 50

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, this type of earth shelter may also be used to store food (just like a pantry, a lar ...

s, paving stones and tens of thousands 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 ...

shards and

stone tool 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 ...

s were found, including a unique pot with a human face design. Currently, the site has two reconstructed pit houses and the Kawakami Village Cultural Center has a small collection of some of the artifacts found, including human-shaped pottery. The site is approximately 15 minutes by car from Shinano-Kawakami Station on the

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

Koumi Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It links Kobuchizawa Station in Hokuto, Yamanashi with Komoro Station in Komoro, Nagano, and extends 78.9 km (49.0 mi) through the mountains with a total ...

References

External links

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

Overview

See also

References

External links