Shimoyakebe
下宅部遺跡 · Shimoyakebe Ruins · Saitama Shimoyakebe · Higashiyama Terrace? Shimoyakebe
Late Jomon 3000–500 BCE → Yayoi 400 BCE–300 CE (paddy)·Jomon → Yayoi (Kanto lowland)·🇯🇵 Saitama Prefecture, Higashikurume? Actually Saitama historic: Shimoyakebe, Saitama north edge of Musashino plateau near Kumagaya, Japan
About
About Shimoyakebe
Lowland Yayoi–Jomon wetland plant economy site — Shimoyakebe on the Arakawa–Tama lowland peaty back-marsh (c.3000 BCE–300 CE): waterlogged Yayoi paddy field wooden implements (shovels, mallets), lakekside Jomon nut (chestnut, walnut) storage pits with pollen cores, and yayoi wooden well casings. Saitama Prefecture waterlogged rescue 2001–07 (Iizuka): 400+ wooden artefacts, pollen-derived rice phytolith dominance from c.400 BCE. Shimoyakebe is Kanto's waterlogged counterpart to karako-kagi's drained Yayoi city — pair defining wet–dry Yayoi polar ancestors.
Why it mattersJapan's best preserved Yayoi lowland wooden wetland assemblage — quantifies paddy implement evolution linking Mizuko shell mound to Karako city granaries.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Wooden-to-stone tool replacement lag — why preserve chestnut?
- 02Paddy phytolith dominance — dryland or marsh?
Theories
- 01Shimoyakebe as Kanto wetland paddy base supplying Musashino upland (Mizuko–Shimoyakebe model)
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.3000 BCE Jomon pit-cult; paddy c.400 BCE Yayoi
- Period
- Late Jomon 3000–500 BCE → Yayoi 400 BCE–300 CE (paddy)
- Culture
- Jomon → Yayoi (Kanto lowland)
- Builders
- Arakawa lowland Jomon→Yayoi rice pioneers
- Purpose
- Lowland nut-storage and paddy-field wooden-implement production in peaty back-marsh
- Abandoned
- c.300 CE flood silt capping
- Rediscovered
- 2001 Saitama redevelopment — waterlogged rescue 2001–07 (Iizuka et al.)
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.3000–500 BCE
Jomon chestnut–walnut storage pits and wooden pestles in peat
c.400 BCE–300 CE
Yayoi paddy field wooden spades/mallets and well casings, rice phytolith core
2001–07
Saitama rescue — 400 waterlogged wooden artefacts, pollen sequence
On the ground
Structures & features
35.7900° N · 139.4900° E · 12 m · 2 mapped features
Shimoyakebe Paddy Wood Tool Horizon
wetlandYayoi paddy wooden spades 80 cm and well casings in waterlogged peat (north wetland)
35.7903° N · 139.4903° EShimoyakebe Peaty Storage-Pit Zone and Pollen Core
wetlandJomon chestnut storage pits 1.2 m deep with peat pollen core (south wetland)
35.7897° N · 139.4897° E