Results of Excavation at the Miyahata Site

• Published in: Nihon Kokogaku(Journal of the Japanese Archaeological Association) Vol. 8; no. 12; pp. 147 - 155
• Main Author: SAITO, Yoshihiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: THE JAPANESE ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION 2001; 一般社団法人 日本考古学協会
• Subjects: Settlement structure; Jomon period; Tohoku region; 東北; 縄文時代; 集落の構造
• ISSN: 1340-8488; 1883-7026
• DOI: 10.11215/nihonkokogaku1994.8.12_147

The Miyahata site has long been known as an area where Jomon pottery is found in scattered fashion, and in an excavation carried out in Fiscal 1997 in conjunction with construction of the Fujishima Industrial Park, embedded-pillar building remains, with a pillar remnant measuring 90 cm in diameter and dating from the Final Jomon period, were discovered. In Fiscal 1998-2000, in an investigation to determine the extent of the site conducted by the Board of Education of Fukushima city, in addition to a settlement composed of embedded-pillar buildings and buried urns of the Final Jomon, it became clear that the remains of settle-ments from the Middle and Late Jomon periods also exist in nearly the same area, and it was also verified that in each period a refuse dump was made to the west of the settlement. The settlement of the Final Jomon centers on the periods of Obora BC and Obora C2 styles of pottery, with the remains of embedded-pillar buildings forming a ring, on the outside of which is a cluster of buried jars. The embedded-pillar building remains show signs of rebuilding, and many of the postholes are deep, in excess of one meter. Pit-dwellings are few in number by comparison. The locations of burial pits have not been determined. Late Jomon period settlement has been verified for the early and middle portions of the period, but at present the situation regarding settlement in the final portion of the period remains unclear. A settlement with dwellings having stone-paved floors in the early portion of the period was maintained, with the remains of pit-dwellings and clusters of pits found over the southern half of the site, but burials having stone alignments are still unverified. In the middle portion of the Late Jomon, the settlement spread over a wider expanse at the site than in the early portion, and pits which may have been burials were found in the vicinity of pit-dwellings. The composition of the settlement in the Middle Jomon has not been clearly ascertained, though settlement in the periods of Daigi 9 and 10 styles of pottery has been verified. The proportion of burned dwelling remains among the pit-dwellings is high, and there is a good possibility that these scorched remains are the result of the ritual burning of dwellings at the time of abandonment, or some similar custom of the times. From the conditions of discovery of the scorched dirt and carbonized materials, the roof is thought to have been an earthen structure, while from the thick accumulation of scorched earth in block form, it is thought that the conditions of burning differ from those for burned dwellings reported in investigations up to the present. From the settlement layout of the Final Jomon and the adoption of stone-paved dwellings in the early portion of the Late Jomon, as well as from the dwelling structure and customs of the Middle Jomon, the Miyahata site can be regarded as one which provides important information for considerations of the social structure of the Jomon period.