Walking Tour of Sannai Maruyama

By K. Kris Hirst, About.com Guide

This 14.7 meter tower structure is a reconstruction based on evidence from the archaeology at Sannai Maruyama. The archaeological evidence of its form consists of six postmolds, set out in a rectangular pattern, in the same manner as the smaller six-pillar structures. But in this case, each of the postmolds was 1.6 meters in diameter with an average depth of more than 2 meters. At the bottom of each post mold was a piece of the post itself, a large chestnut tree bole, 75-95 centimeters in diameter.

Archaeologists feel these posts might represent the support posts for a large watch tower or other special building.

Sources

See the Jomon Timeline and Definition for more specifics on the culture.

See the official Sannai Maruyama website for further information. If you are planning a visit to Japan, the site is open to visitors, with a museum and several reconstructed buildings.

Habu, Junko 2008 Growth and decline in complex hunter-gatherer societies: a case study from the Jomon period Sannai Maruyama site, Japan. Antiquity 82:571–584.

Habu, Junko and Clare Fawcett 1999 Jomon archaelogy and the representation of Japanese origins. Antiquity 73:587-793.

Habu, Junko, Minkoo Kim, Mio Katayama, and Hajime Komiya 2001 Jomon subsistence-settlement systems at the Sannai Maruyama site. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 21:9-21. Free download

Anonymous. The Sannai Maruyama Site: Extraordinarily Large Settlement in Prehistoric Japan. Undated pamphlet available at the Sannai Maruyama site webpage.