Aota Archaeological Site

The Niigata Prefectural Bunkazai center held an "open house" for the excavations at the Aota site, near Shibata City in Niigata Prefecture.  Over 500 visitors came to the open house on August 26, 2000.

　

<The picture to the left shows the excavation units.  The remains of one of the Jomon houses is underneath the tent marked "H".
The Aota site was discovered during the course of road construction outside of Shibata city.  The site is located over 3 meters below the present day surface; most of the site is water-logged.  To date, 20 houses dating to the Middle and Final Jomon sub-periods have been found.  The houses were pentagonal in shape and were built near the banks of the river.  As the river changed its course, the houses were flooded and preserved.  Chestnut and acorn processing were done on the banks of the river.  Excavations have revealed a wooden structure used to remove the husks and tannins from the nuts.  Numerous shells and husks from the nuts were also found. 

^ The above photo shows the pottery that was dumped into the river after it was used by the inhabitants of the Aota site. 

　

　

　

< One of the excavators describes on of the houses found a the Aota site.  Many of the houses were pentagonal in shape.  They were not pit houses; they were built directly on the surface of the ground.  Due to the site being water-logged, most of the posts were found in-situ.
Due to the water-logged conditions, a variety of organic artifacts have been recovered.  Baskets, thread, lacquer ware, and boat paddles have been recovered.

Close-up of one of the baskets V
Close-up of basketry found at the site.  Compared to the one on the left, this one is of a looser weave.

<  Small balls of lacquered thread were found in one of the houses.  While thread has been found in other Jomon houses, lacquered thread is quite rare. 

　

　

　

　

      

Below is a close-up of another bundle of lacquered thread. V

Over the next several months, the finds will be conserved and studied by specialists at the Niigata Prefectural Bunkazai Center.  Hopefully, sometime in 2001, the site report will appear in print.

 

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