Sannai-Maruyama Site
Sannai Maruyama Jomon Village · Special Historic Site Sannai-Maruyama
Middle to Late Jomon 3900–2300 BCE (peak Early-Middle)·Jomon (northern Honshu hunter-gatherer)·🇯🇵 Aomori Prefecture, Aomori City, Okidate, Japan
About
About Sannai-Maruyama Site
Largest Jomon hunter-gatherer settlement (3900–2300 BCE) with 40 ha including six-pillar 15 m building (reconstructed), 500+ pit dwellings, longhouses, burial pits with red ochre, and jade exchange 500 km to Itoigawa. Despite no agriculture, sedentary year-round community supported by maritime chestnut management and long-distance obsidian demonstrates complexity without farming.
Why it mattersLargest Jomon hunter-gatherer settlement (3900–2300 BCE) with 40 ha including six-pillar 15 m building (reconstructed),
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Six-pillar structure – astronomical observatory, granary, or hall?
- 02Population size estimating 500–1000 without farming sustain
Theories
- 01Jomon sedentism falsifies Neolithic revolution necessity thesis
- 02Chestnut orchard management as proto-arboriculture
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.3900 BCE establishment; large pillars 2600 BCE
- Period
- Middle to Late Jomon 3900–2300 BCE (peak Early-Middle)
- Culture
- Jomon (northern Honshu hunter-gatherer)
- Purpose
- Sedentary hunter village with ritual precinct and long-distance jade exchange hub
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
c.3900 BCE establishment; large pillars 2600 BCE
Initial construction
c. 1301 CE
Abandonment
On the ground
Structures & features
40.8120° N · 140.7000° E · 20 m · 3 mapped features
Six-pillar structure (Rokone)
raised structureReconstructed 15 m tall six-pillar tower central ritual
40.8125° N · 140.7005° ELarge pit-dwelling cluster
pit dwellingHorseshoe pit house zone excavated
40.8115° N · 140.6990° EBurial pits and mound
cemetery moundMound with 500+ stone-pile graves
40.8130° N · 140.7010° E
Gallery