PORTRAITS OF JAPANSannai Maruyama is the site of a settlement that wasmaintained for two thousand years. Diverse facilities
including large, pillar-supported buildings and roads
were arranged methodically to form the infrastructureof a large-scale community.

NEW WORLD HERITAGE SITES HIGHLIGHT
THE CHARM OF THE

PREHISTORICJOMON PERIODOn July 27, several valuable prehistoric sites were newly added to the UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
They bear a unique testimony to the development over millennia of the pre-agricultural yet sedentary Jomon culture.
The northern end of theJapanese archipelago is a verdantregion abundantly blessed bynature. It is also the location ofmany valuable archaeologicalsites, indicating how people
settled and lived in the area morethan 10 thousand years ago. In
July 2021, a number of these sites
were registered as a UNESCOWorld Heritage cultural property
under the title “Jomon PrehistoricSites in Northern Japan.”Japan’s Jomon Period lasted
for more than 10 millennia, fromapproximately 13,000 B.C.E. to400 B.C.E. That lengthy span ofPhotos courtesy Jomon Archives

time coincides with the periodin Europe stretching from theend of the Paleolithic age to theestablishment of the Roman
Empire. The Jomon Prehistoric
Sites comprise 17 excavations
scattered across four prefectures:
Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate, andAkita. It is a region of abundant
water sources in the form of lakes,
marshes, and rivers, with richforests covering the terrain. In abountiful land with stable foodsources amenable to gathering,fishing, or hunting, people began
to live together in communities andestablish permanent settlements.

One reason that the remains ofJomon settlements were deemedworthy of recognition as WorldHeritage sites is the rare evidence
they provide of the developmentof non-agricultural sedentarysocieties.
Professor Simon Kaner, executive
director of the Sainsbury Institutefor the Study of Japanese Arts andCultures in the U.K., where he also
heads the Centre for Archaeology
and Heritage, and director of theCentre for Japanese Studies at theUniversity of East Anglia, speaksof the appeal of the Jomon sites. “Aremarkable thing about the Jomon

A large cemetery is believed to lie under thestones of the Oyu Stone Circles. Numerous ritual
implements such as stone daggers have beenunearthed at the site.

Simon Kaner is executive
director of the Sainsbury
Institute for the Study ofJapanese Arts and Cultures inthe U.K., where he also heads
the Centre for Archaeology
and Heritage, and director of
the Centre for JapaneseStudies at the University of
East Anglia. His choice ofJomon culture as a researchsubject began with the dogu
clay figures that havefascinated him since he joined
an archaeological dig in Japan
during his college days.

Period is the diversity of its pottery
culture, from its earliest stages toits last. Pottery shards have beenfound at the Odai Yamamoto Site
in Aomori Prefecture that dateback 16 thousand years, whichmakes the site one of the mostancient pottery-using places inthe world.” The pottery found inAfrica, the second most ancientpottery-using area in the world, isfrom approximately 11 thousandyears ago.
Professor Kaner continues,“Why was pottery made from
Left to right: A large“goggle-eyed” clay figure
excavated at the Kamegaoka
Burial Site in AomoriPrefecture; a decorated
cylindrical earthenware pot
from the Goshono Site inIwate Prefecture; a wide
variety of pottery from theKorekawa Site in Aomori
Prefecture.

such an early time in the Jomon
Period? Scholars all over theworld are looking for a reason,
but unfortunately, we have not
yet arrived at an answer. Burnt
food residue has been discoveredon some of the shards, suggestingthat Jomon people were interested
in cooking. There is a great deal
to tickle the imagination, whichmakes it fascinating.”
Professor Kaner is particularly
attracted to stone circles, a numberof which are part of the culturalproperty at the sites, including
the Oyu Stone Circles and theIsedotai Stone Circles, both in
Akita Prefecture. Numerous
implements thought to have beenused in rituals have been foundat the same sites, suggesting thatvarious rites and ceremonies
were conducted across multiple
generations during the Jomon
Period. The Oyu Stone Circles is
one of the clearest example of thisidea, for they are composed of tworows of regularly spaced stones insundial formation, with buildings,
storage pits, and graves arranged
around the circular setting.
Professor Kaner is conducting
a comparative study between theJomon circles and the variouscircles found in Britain. He says,“It is quite rare to find stone circles
among non-agricultural societies.
Not only did the societies of theJomon Period build permanent
settlements despite them being
fisher-gatherer-hunters; it seems
likely that their societies wereclosely associated with particularplaces, or landscapes, too. Burying
people who were destined to
become your people’s ancestors
in monuments is an effective
way of ‘staking your claim’ oversuch places and landscapes, andperforming rites in particularseasons was as important for themas it was for agriculturalists.”A visitor to these sites is sure togain a sense of how life was lived inthose days, so many millennia ago.
Professor Kaner says with a smile:“They say that contemplating
beautiful scenery contributes to aperson’s well-being. What betterway to travel than to nourish yoursoul by seeing an archaeologicalsite surrounded by beautiful
scenery, and then enjoying somedelicious Japanese food!”