Uenohara in Japan, roughly 11,500 years ago, contained 52 pit dwellings, at least 16 clay-lined storage pits and tens of thousands of pottery sherds — with no evidence of farming. Its Initial Jōmon inhabitants were sedentary hunter-gatherers subsisting on rich wild foods, including acorns, other nuts and hunted animals. A nearby volcanic eruption buried and preserved the settlement under pumice, Pompeii-style. The site provides evidence that villages can develop without agriculture. 🏔️🌰
Sedentary hunter-gatherers at Uenohara, Japan, lived without farming c. 9500 BC
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Site mentioned
Key facts
- The site is Uenohara, in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. It dates to roughly 11,500 years ago (c. 9500 BC) and contained 52 identified pit dwellings, at least 16 clay-lined storage pits and tens of thousands of pottery sherds.
- The inhabitants belonged to the Initial Jōmon and showed no evidence of agriculture, relying instead on broad-spectrum subsistence in a productive environment.
- Storage-pit remains included acorns and other nuts, alongside evidence of hunted animals.
- A nearby volcanic eruption buried and preserved the settlement beneath pumice in a Pompeii-like way.
- The site provides evidence that sedentism and village settlement can develop without agriculture, complicating simple links between farming, villages and organized warfare.
Sources
Summary of each archaeological sitejomon-japan.jp
The site is one of the largest settlement sites of the Jomon period (13,000–400 BCE) discovered to date, archaeologists at work in restoring earthenware ...
The Museum,Archaeological Institute of Kashihara,Nara ...japanculturalexpo.bunka.go.jp
Since 1938, the Archaeological Institute of Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, has been conducting archaeological surveys of sites in Nara Prefecture.
Noteworthy Archaeological Sitesarchaeology.jp
Noteworthy Archaeological Sites ; 2025 Maeda Site ; 2025 Kenkōji Site ; 2025 Jōkanzuka Site ; 2025 Sogabosho Site ; 2025 Koyasu / Nakagawara Site.
Uenohara siteen.wikipedia.org
Uenohara Site (上野原遺跡 , Uenohara iseki) is an archeological site with the ruins of a Jōmon period settlement located in the Kokubu neighborhood of the city ...
Utsunomiya Archaeological Siteen.japantravel.com
It features one of the largest reconstructed ancient pit building of its kind in Japan, lashed together with vines, and some smaller ones too.
Uenohara Jomon no Mori Museum - Kyushu & Tokyokyushuandtokyo.org
Located in a deciduous forest are five recreated pit dwellings from sites such as the Uenohara site, Nagata site, and the Ufuta site, ranging from the Jomon ...
Map of features found in the Uenohara site, Section 3, ...researchgate.net
The Incipient Jomon period site of Sojiyama, dated to around 13,500 bp is thought to be a wintering site, while Kakoinohara, of similar date, is thought to have ...
Learning about the Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern ...jomon-japan.jp
The Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan are an outstanding example of sedentary modes of settlement and land-use from the emergence of sedentism ...
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