Last Thursday I went on a field trip with HIF to one of the Jomon archaeological sites in Hakodate. The Jomon people first settled in the area of Hakodate 9,000 years ago. The finds at different sites in the region have been dated from then until 2,000 years ago, indicating that for 7 millennia (or as I prefer to put it, a looooong time) the Jomon people were living here.
A model overview of the site fully excavated (they have since filled most of it back in to preserve it) They’ve found lots of artifacts on the sites, the most famous being this hollow clay doll from the late Jomon era.
But there was lots of other stuff, including tons of pottery. Even from the Initial Jomon era 9000 years ago, they were using lacquer.
What are left of the actual buildings are holes like this. The Jomon people dug into the ground as a way to keep themselves warmer. The holes within the holes held the wooden columns for the structure above. At the center was a fire ring.
Here’s a picture of a recreation of the wooden structure.
In the distance in this picture, you can see the replica of a complete structure.
We were able to go inside of the replica. My camera was claiming to have a low battery, so I didn’t use the flash inside, but you can still get the idea. You can see the placement of the sleeping platform directly above the fire too.
And then we all piled into our very cramped bus to go back home. :)
hey there was just a thing on the history channel about the Jomon people and how they think they may have came over to Chile thousands of years ago and showed them how to make pots.
ReplyDeleteJust thought that was interesting :-p
Frank