Ubayama Shell Mound

The Ubayama Shell Mound (, Ubayama kaizuka) is an archaeological site in the Kashiwai neighborhood of the city of Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region of Japan, containing a mid-to-late Jōmon period shell midden, designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1967. During the early to middle Jōmon period (approximately 4000 to 2500 BC), sea levels were five to six meters higher than at present, and the ambient temperature was two degrees Celsius higher. During this period, the Kantō region was inhabited by the Jōmon people, many of whom lived in coastal settlements. The middens associated with such settlements contain bone, botanical material, mollusc shells, sherds, lithics, and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with the now-vanished inhabitants, and these features, provide a useful source into the diets and habits of Jōmon society. Most of these middens are found along the Pacific coast of Japan. The Ubayama site is located on the left bank of the Ohashiwa River, which flows into Tokyo Bay, on a plateau with an elevation of about 24 meters above the present sea level. The midden is horseshoe-shaped, measuring approximately 130 meters from east-to-west and 120 meters from north-to-south, forming an incomplete shell ring. The presence of a shell mound in this location was known at a relatively early time, and a preliminary survey was first made in 1893. It was

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).