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 ...

with the remains of a late

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 ...

settlement located in what is now the city of Ōshū,

Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...

in the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, , or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains ...

of northern

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 ...

. It has been protected by the central government as a National Historic Site since 2008.

Overview

The Ōsuzukami site is located in the southwestern portion of Iwate Prefecture, on a

river terrace Fluvial terraces are elongated terraces that flank the sides of floodplains and fluvial valleys all over the world. They consist of a relatively level strip of land, called a "tread", separated from either an adjacent floodplain, other fluvial t ...

with an altitude of 280 meters. It was excavated in the year 2000 in conjunction with the construction of the

Isawa Dam is an embankment dam on the Isawa River in Iwate Prefecture, 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 a ...

, and as a result of the findings, the design of the dam was altered to preserve the site. The excavation revealed a central square with a diameter of approximately 20 meters, surrounded by 62 large raised floor pillar dwellings orientated with their long axis facing towards the center of the square. Outside the large pit dwellings were smaller

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, and simple pits which were used for storage purposes. In the similar

Ayaorishinden Site is an archaeological site containing the remains of a large early Jōmon period settlement located in the city of Tōno, in Iwate Prefecture in the far northern Tōhoku region of Japan. It has been designated by the central government as a Na ...

, the dwellings were not orientated towards the central plaza, and thus the Ōsuzukami site marks a transition to the ring settlements which spread throughout Japan in the middle of the Jōmon period. There was evidence of frequent rebuilding and expansion, indicating that the site had been used for a long period of time. The site was backfilled after excavation, and there is nothing at the site today except for an explanatory plaque. The site is located about 50 minutes by car from Mizusawa Interchange on the Tohoku Expressway.

References

External links

Oshu city home page
{{in lang, ja Ōshū, Iwate Jōmon period sites History of Iwate Prefecture Historic Sites of Japan

Overview

See also

References

External links