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Surviving the tsunami: archaeological sites of northeastern Japan
The deadly wave that engulfed the northeastern coastline of Japan devastated many archaeological sites and museums. Prehistoric settlers along the coast chose higher ground for their sites, perhaps passing on knowledge of the danger from earlier tsunamis from generation to generation. CWA looks at a handful of these ancient sites.
Northeastern Japan is the ‘treasure house’of Jomon culture, the best example of prehistoric foragers in the temperate zone. Highlights include the world’s earliest dated pottery container, to the extraordinarily rich waterlogged sites of the later Jomon. Their significance is now being recognised as World Heritage. The Tohoku region is where the Chinese-influenced Japanese Classical civilisation encountered its northern neighbours – predecessors of the Ainu, now recognised as an indigenous people – that resulted in a heady mix of warfare, trade, repression, and subversion. Archaeologists in Tohoku have pioneered important techniques, from stratigraphy to archaeobotany, and from
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