JAPAN'S JOMON ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN TOHOKU SET TO JOIN THE UNESCO LIST OF WORLD HERITAGE SITES

JAPAN'S JOMON ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN TOHOKU SET TO JOIN THE UNESCO LIST OF WORLD HERITAGE SITES - A group of “Jomon” archaeological sites in northern Japan including Tohoku is expected to join the UNESCO list of world heritage sites later this month when the World Heritage Committee meets to review the list. The Sannai Maruyama Site in Aomori Prefecture and the other sites under review are an evidence of the Jomon culture that flourished and matured in the Japanese archipelago for nearly 10,000 years during the Neolithic age. The Jomon culture was established on permanent settlements and sustained by a mode of production involving hunting, fishing, and gathering as well as the coexistence of human beings and nature in the humid temperature climate of the Holocene epoch. This compares with Neolithic cultures in other areas of the world, which were established on agriculture and animal husbandry and without permanent settlements. According to the UNESCO, the Jomon property “possesses outstanding universal value as a testimony of a unique cultural tradition representing the way in which human beings coexisted with nature over an immense period of time in a specific geo-cultural region of our planet.”

The Sannai Maruyama Site, where excavation began in 1992 and revealed a large settlement from the early and middle Jomon period (approximately between 3900 B.C. and 2200 B.C.), is particularly interesting and accessible for international tourists. The site includes a reproduced ancient village and the Sanmaru Museum which exhibits almost 1,700 artifacts excavated from the Sannai Maruyama Site with explanations available in English. The Sannai Maruyama Site has a comprehensive website in English, Chinese and Korean and is accessible easily by a short bus or taxi ride from Shin-Aomori Station which is connected directly by the shinkansen with Tokyo Station.

The other Jomon archaeological sites in Tohoku with signs and explanations available in English are: Goshono Jomon Site, where the ruins of soil-covered dwellings were first discovered, and Oyu Stone Circles, one of Japan's largest stone circles.

iMAGE CREDIT BY JOMON ARCHIVE, JAPAN