| *The site of the largest village in the Jomon
period in Japan* |
 Previous excavations have unearthed the site
of a large village built in the early to
middle Jomon period (about 5,500 years to
4,000 years ago), the site of a village built
in the Heian period (about 1,000 years ago),
and part of the site of a castle built at
the end of the Medieval period (about 400
years ago). The site is a vast 35 hectares
and the remains of more than 500 buildings
of various sizes were confirmed from 1993
to 1995.
In particular, the remains of many pit dwellings,
large pit dwellings and buildings with columns
stuck in the ground were discovered in the
large village of the Jomon period.
The site unveiled that people in the Jomon
period systematically settled down, as seen
in a valley (with a layer of peaty soil)
where a large amount of relics were dumped,
and a village where life continued for about
1,500 years with rows of tombs of adults,
groups of tombs of children, dumping grounds,
embanked remains for the intensive dumping
of earthenware, groups of pits for storage,
and a site of digging clay. The site overturned
our common historical knowledge about people
in the Jomon period, who were believed to
move and hunt for a living. |
| *An enormous amount of information on the
site* |
 At the Sannai Maruyama Site, more than 40,000
cardboard boxes of relics were discovered.
The amount is equivalent to 30 years' excavations
of buried cultural properties unearthed in
Aomori Prefecture, and several times the
cultural properties unearthed annually in
Japan. Among excavations such as earthenware,
stone implements, and bone and antler artifacts,
the most notable are animal and fish bones
found in the valley, and plant seeds and
pollen found in a layer of peaty soil because
we can learn the natural environment and
the dietary habits of people in the Jomon
period.
In addition, jade, amber and obsidian explain
that people in the Jomon period traded with
people in remote areas, and lacquerware tells
that there were people with professional
techniques.
Because nuts such as horse chestnuts, walnuts
and chestnuts, and fruit such as elderberries,
sarunashi, yamaguwa (a type of mulberry),
wild grapes and raspberries are easily fermented
naturally, it seems that people living in
mountainous areas made fruit wine. The Sannai
Maruyama Site holds very precious relics
and remains that specifically tell us about
the life of people in the Jomon period. |
| *Jomon period* |
 It is said that mankind appeared on the Japanese
Islands several hundred thousand
years ago
in the ice age when the water
level was more
than 100 meters lower than now
and the distance
between Aomori Prefecture and
Hokkaido was
much shorter. In addition, Hokkaido
was connected
with the continent.
There are traces left by humankind in strata
20,000 years old of the Old Stone Age in
Japan, and also here in Aomori Prefecture.
It is thought that people continued to move
in search of better land, hunting large animals.
With a milder climate, people seemed to start
settling down.
The Jomon period started about 13,000 years
ago. In the Jomon period, earthenware was
used and new tools such as stone arrowheads
appeared. Around this time, the climate started
changing significantly. Broadleaf trees such
as beeches and Japanese oaks replaced conifers
and spread, and the climate became much warmer.
At the peak more than about 6,000 years ago,
melted glaciers raised the seawater level
that was five meters above the current level.
As a result, the sea was said to run into
an area close to the Sannai Maruyama Site.
People at that time caught fish, went out
to sea for exchanges and trade, managed blessings
from forests such as chestnuts, and built
stable villages where people settled down.
|
| *Cylindrical earthenware and its distribution* |
 In the early and middle Jomon period, earthenware
called cylindrical earthenware in the shape
of a long bucket was made and used around
Aomori Prefecture. Earthenware unearthed
from a lower stratum is called lower stratum
type cylindrical earthenware and belongs
to the early Jomon period. Earthenware unearthed
from an upper stratum is called upper stratum
type cylindrical earthenware and belongs
to the middle Jomon period. The range of
the cylindrical earthenware extends widely
from a northern area near the mouth of the
Ishikari River in Hokkaido across the Tsugaru
Strait, to a southern area that reaches a
line connecting the southern part of Iwate
Prefecture and the northern part of Yamagata
Prefecture.
The cylindrical earthenware, especially the
upper stratum type, has florid patterns with
a wide variety of shapes. Unearthed earthen
shallow bowls with bases have shapes and
ornaments that are acceptable even today. |
| *Major unearthed relics* |
| Many stone tools used as sharp-edged weapons
(instruments) were also unearthed. The bones,
antlers and tusks of animals, which were
caught in hunting, were used to make various
tools. Such tools are called bone and antler
artifacts. Because they are resilient in
comparison with stones and become sharper
when polished, people in the Jomon period
used them as needles, fishhooks, and the
heads of harpoons. Plants such as trees and
grass were also frequently used. There were
wooden products such as sticks for digging
up the ground, oars, and wooden lacquer dishes
and bowls. Red colored paints were also devised.
There was a wide variety of types such as
ropes, braids, bracelets and knitted items
using bark and vines. As far as food is concerned,
there were nuts such as walnuts, horse chestnuts
and chestnuts, many small animals such as
rabbits and flying squirrels, and the bones
of various fishes such as sardines, yellowtails
and tunas. People in the Jomon period basically
relied on hunting and collecting for their
diet with various sources, which seemed to
be richer than we imagine. |
| *Extensive trade* |
 Unearthed relics such as jade from Itoigawa,
Niigata Prefecture, obsidian from Hokkaido,
asphalt from Akita and amber from Iwate tell
that trade was already conducted over a wide
area. It is clear that part of trade was
conducted over the sea because boat oars
were unearthed. |
| *Large building with columns stuck in the
ground as the symbol of the site* |
 Because of abundant layers of peaty soil
at the site, air was shut out in an ideal
way so many relics and remains which are
usually decayed without a trace, such as
wood products, lacquerware, bark products,
bone and antler artifacts, and animal and
human bones, were unearthed.
The most notable are the remains of a large
building with columns stuck in the ground,
unearthed near the perimeter of a plateau
at the northwestern part of the site. The
remains in the earth tell the significance
of the site, and make us think of the existence
of gigantic structures. The remains are symbolic
of the Sannai Maruyama Site.
Holes with a 2-meter diameter and a 2.5-meter
depth respectively were dug in the ground
and there were traces that big columns were
built there. Three holes at intervals of
4.2 meters exactly were laid out in two rows.
Wooden columns were discovered at the bottom
of the holes. The wooden columns were made
of chestnut trees. The height of the building
is estimated to be 10 meters at least or
20 meters at maximum from the diameters of
the columns. At present, there are various
opinions that the building was used as a
religious facility such as a sanctuary or
a shrine, or a watchtower, a lighthouse,
a lookout tower for fish, or an astronomical
observatory. The building is one of the great
riddles at the Sannai Maruyama Site. |
| *Various enormous engineering works* |
 In addition to large buildings with columns
stuck in the ground, the Sannai Maruyama
Site yielded a group of raised warehouses,
which face a certain direction, and a large
pit dwelling, which extends 30 meters on
the major axis.
In a valley in the northern part of a village,
numerous pieces of earthenware were found
and they seemed to be set up in rows of piles
for earth retaining, or stuck for the prevention
of collapse. The large-scale civil works
prove that people in Sannai Maruyama had
advanced civil engineering technology and
also that a large number of people lived
there. There are various opinions about its
population and the most probable opinion
is that a village like a satellite town with
a population of 500 people existed.
We now know that people in Sannai Maruyama
had advanced civil engineering technology
that was more than we expected, as seen in
a wide road running through the center of
the village and extending much farther. The
wide road was firmly stamped down so oncoming
vehicles could pass by outgoing vehicles
on the road. |
| *Development of high processing technology* |
 The Sannai Maruyama Site yielded wooden lacquerware,
to which reddish lacquer with iron oxide
was applied. There are wooden plates and
dishes. Extraordinary techniques were used
for the wooden works without ironware or
pulleys. The method of lacquering seemed
be developed from ancient times in Japan
and not introduced from China.
Bag-shaped products, which were woven with
the vegetable fibers of rushes, were unearthed
in complete form. The bag called Jomon pochette
was woven by the method called Nihonkoshi
Nihonmoguri that is also used today.
In addition, people in the Jomon period had
various processing technologies that still
amaze us of the present age such as minute
processing technology with sewing needles
made of bones, and accurate boring technology
for the jadeites of jade. |
| *Way to the preservation of the Sannai Maruyama
Site* |
 The Sannai Maruyama Site is located in a
hilly area about three kilometers southwest
of the center of Aomori City. In the wake
of the expansion work of the Aomori Prefectural
Comprehensive Athletic Field (Prefectural
Area Park), Aomori Prefecture started excavating
the Sannai Maruyama Site in 1992 in order
to record and preserve the site. Though the
purpose of the excavation was only recording
and preservation, there was a significant
discovery in July 1994 that urged the prefecture
to change its policy.
The remains of a large building with columns
of about one meter in diameter were discovered
at the site. In addition, the excavation
of a large amount of relics and remains at
the Sannai Maruyama Site overturned our common
historical knowledge about people in the
Jomon period, who were believed to move and
hunt for a living but actually settled down
for about 1,500 years from the early Jomon
period 5,500 years ago to the middle Jomon
period 4,000 years ago. The discovery of
the nation's largest village in the Jomon
period at the site was reported extensively
in the newspapers. In the wake of this incident,
more prefectural residents voiced that the
precious relics and remains, which are only
existent at the site, should be preserved
instead of proceeding with a baseball field
under construction. In that year alone, more
than 60,000 people visited the site and a
prefecture-wide movement to stop the construction
work was developed. Because of this, the
Reviewing Committee on the Issue of the Sannai
Maruyama Site was established and the movement
of preserving the site became active in cooperation
with the prefecture and its residents. So
Aomori Prefecture decided to stop the construction
work and designate the whole 38-ha site as
a preservation area, which will be handed
down to posterity as a national heritage
site.
In March 1997 (Heisei 9), after the site
was designated as a national historical site,
the Excavation Committee was established
in order to aim for the clarification of
the whole site in conjunction with natural
science and archeology.
Since then, new discoveries have been made
continuously such as three grains of a rice
plant, which is believed to the oldest wheat
in the Jomon period about 5,000 years ago,
and excavations still continue now.
In November 2000 (Heisei 12), the site was
designated as a special historical site and
became even more of a national property. |
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