青谷上寺地遺跡 Aoya-kamijichi-iseki The Aoyakamijichi Ruins
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The Aoyakamijichi ruins are located in Aoya-cho, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture. These are the ruins of a large-scale colony in the late Yayoi to the early Kofun periods (2,200 to 1,700 years ago). The ruins were first discovered by chance in 1991, when some pieces of Yayoi earthenware were excavated during the preliminary research for the construction of Aoya-Hawai Road. The subsequent test excavation suggested that there would be large-scale ruins under the ground. The full-scale excavation started in 1998 and a lot of diggings that had never been found in Japan were discovered. The number of the diggings is as many as tens of thousands in total. The ruins are attracting attention of people as the precious historic site to know about the Yayoi period. The excavated items included the human brain, which is the first excavation in Japan, wooden vessels showing high level of skills, ironware that were brought in from the overseas, human bones with scars made in battles, from which we can infer that Japan had already carried on trade with foreign countries in the Yayoi period and that there was a domestic turmoil. By the discovery of these ruins, we can know what the people’s life was like at the very dawn of time, and at the same time we expect that more information will be obtained through further excavation.
- address
- 4064 Aoya Aoya-cho, Tottori, Tottori Prefecture, Japan
- name
- The Aoyakamijichi Ruins
- phone
- 0857-26-7934(鳥取県教育委員会事務局文化課遺跡調査整備室)
- kyouikubunka@pref.tottori.jp
- hp
- http://www.pref.tottori.jp/bunka/aoyakamijichi/