Post by jonsdigs on Jul 30, 2007 22:05:34 GMT -5
AROUND JAPAN: Re-examination of cave may give clues to first steps to civilization
Asahi (Japan)
07/31/2007
SASEBO, Nagasaki Prefecture
Ancient pottery, possibly the oldest in the world, was discovered at the Fukui Cave in the early 1960s, located in what is now the Yoshiicho district of Sasebo.
Although the cave was designated a national historic site, no follow-up excavations were conducted for more than four decades. The former town of Yoshii was suffering from financial woes--and authorities never got around to investigating the cave.
However, that is finally changing. With new mergers with nearby towns, the city of Sasebo has now become a hub of archaeological cave sites.
The Sasebo City Board of Education is heading up a new excavation project of the Fukui Cave. "We will attempt to verify the significance of the Fukui Cave and show where it stands in Japan's ancient history," an education board official said. "We will try to incorporate the findings in shaping our future urban development projects."
The Fukui Cave site is located about 15 kilometers north of the city center. It is tucked behind a Shinto shrine.
Between 1960 and 1964, a team of archaeologists and researchers, who had been tipped off by local historians, investigated the cave with the help of the local governments of former Yoshii town and Nagasaki Prefecture. They excavated the area inside, measuring 12 meters by 8 meters.
There, archaeologists discovered obsidian stone implements believed to date to the end of the Paleolithic Age (c. 2 million B.C. to 10,000 B.C.).
Curiously, pieces of earthenware from the Jomon Pottery Culture period (c. 8000 B.C. to 300 B.C.) were also unearthed from the same layer. The earthenware was found to be 12,000 years old.
The finding proves that a human settlement existed at the end of the Paleolithic Age that used both stone implements and earthenware.
Another cave site was discovered in 1969 in the old Sasebo city. Earthenware that was deemed even more ancient was found at the Senpukuji Cave site.
Full Story
Asahi (Japan)
07/31/2007
SASEBO, Nagasaki Prefecture
Ancient pottery, possibly the oldest in the world, was discovered at the Fukui Cave in the early 1960s, located in what is now the Yoshiicho district of Sasebo.
Although the cave was designated a national historic site, no follow-up excavations were conducted for more than four decades. The former town of Yoshii was suffering from financial woes--and authorities never got around to investigating the cave.
However, that is finally changing. With new mergers with nearby towns, the city of Sasebo has now become a hub of archaeological cave sites.
The Sasebo City Board of Education is heading up a new excavation project of the Fukui Cave. "We will attempt to verify the significance of the Fukui Cave and show where it stands in Japan's ancient history," an education board official said. "We will try to incorporate the findings in shaping our future urban development projects."
The Fukui Cave site is located about 15 kilometers north of the city center. It is tucked behind a Shinto shrine.
Between 1960 and 1964, a team of archaeologists and researchers, who had been tipped off by local historians, investigated the cave with the help of the local governments of former Yoshii town and Nagasaki Prefecture. They excavated the area inside, measuring 12 meters by 8 meters.
There, archaeologists discovered obsidian stone implements believed to date to the end of the Paleolithic Age (c. 2 million B.C. to 10,000 B.C.).
Curiously, pieces of earthenware from the Jomon Pottery Culture period (c. 8000 B.C. to 300 B.C.) were also unearthed from the same layer. The earthenware was found to be 12,000 years old.
The finding proves that a human settlement existed at the end of the Paleolithic Age that used both stone implements and earthenware.
Another cave site was discovered in 1969 in the old Sasebo city. Earthenware that was deemed even more ancient was found at the Senpukuji Cave site.
Full Story