Kamegaoka Stone Age Site
Kamegaoka Iseki · 亀ヶ岡石器時代遺跡
Final Jomon to Early Yayoi 1000–300 BCE·Kamegaoka culture (Final Jomon–Yayoi transition, Tsugaru)·🇯🇵 Aomori Prefecture, Tsugaru City, Kamegaoka plateau (Shichiri-Naganuma wetland edge), Japan
About
About Kamegaoka Stone Age Site
Final Jomon–Early Yayoi ritual settlement (c.1000–300 BCE) on Kamegaoka plateau at Tsugaru City — 4 ha with 40 pit dwellings, ritual clay figurine (shakōki-dogū Goggle-eyed) concentration (over 200 dogū), jadeite bead workshop, and wooden lacquered ritual objects (red lacquer bow, basket). Excavated 1920s–2008, Kamegaoka is the classic Kamegaoka culture type-site: Final Jomon–Yayoi transition with cord-marked pottery (O洞式) giving way to Yayoi plain ware; UNESCO Jomon buffer but not core inscribed, famous for Kamegaoka style pottery and amber trade.
Why it mattersType-site for Kamegaoka Final Jomon–Yayoi transition; richest shakōki-dogū concentration (200+) proof of Final Jomon ritual intensification.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why dogū mass production only at Kamegaoka?
Theories
- 01Final Jomon ritual economy before rice Yayoi dispersal
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.1000 BCE Final Jomon Kamegaoka phase
- Period
- Final Jomon to Early Yayoi 1000–300 BCE
- Culture
- Kamegaoka culture (Final Jomon–Yayoi transition, Tsugaru)
- Builders
- Final Jomon fisher-farmers (Tsugaru)
- Purpose
- Ritual production village and jadeite–amber exchange node
- Abandoned
- c.300 BCE Yayoi Yayoi
- Rediscovered
- 1920s excavation; 2008 Aomori Prefecture research
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.1000–600 BCE
Final Jomon pit village with Kamegaoka cord-marked pottery
c.600–300 BCE
Shakōki-dogū mass production and jadeite bead workshop peak
1920–2008
Tsugaru City excavations define Kamegaoka culture ceramic sequence
On the ground
Structures & features
40.8844° N · 140.3342° E · 20 m · 2 mapped features
Shakōki-dogū pit concentration
ritual depositPit cluster with 200+ Goggle-eyed dogū fragments
40.8847° N · 140.3340° EJadeite bead workshop
workshopBead drilling floors with jadeite debris and unfinished magatama
40.8842° N · 140.3344° E
Gallery