Komakino Stone Circle
Komakino Iseki · Komakino Stone Circles
Late to Final Jomon (2300–400 BCE)·Late Jomon (Tsugaru region)·🇯🇵 Aomori Prefecture, Aomori City, Hakkoda foothills (eastern Aomori), Japan
About
About Komakino Stone Circle
Late Jomon megalithic cemetery (c.2300–1700 BCE) on Hakkoda foothills in Aomori City — massive ring-ditch stone circle 35 m dia. with 1,800+ rhyolite river cobbles, central stone cairn over burial pits, and 14 surrounding ditch burials, excavated 1978–86. Komakino is the largest stone-circle cemetery in Aomori, with red-ochre child burials and lacquerware, showing Jomon hierarchical mortuary differentiation; UNESCO serial Jomon component (1632-012) with construction requiring 1,000 person-days, proving Late Jomon labor organization.
Why it mattersLargest Jomon stone-circle cemetery in Aomori; proves Late Jomon labor pooling and incipient hierarchy without agriculture.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why 1800 cobbles — counting or ritual?
Theories
- 01Seasonal aggregation burial ground for dispersed hamlets; solar–lunar alignment
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.2300 BCE ring ditch; stone circle 2000–1700 BCE
- Period
- Late to Final Jomon (2300–400 BCE)
- Culture
- Late Jomon (Tsugaru region)
- Builders
- Jomon communities (Aomori cluster)
- Purpose
- Communal cemetery and ritual–cosmological center
- Abandoned
- c.400 BCE (Jomon–Yayoi transition)
- Rediscovered
- 1978–86 Aomori City Board of Education excavation
- Excavation
- Excavated
c.2300 BCE
Ring ditch dug in Hakkoda tuff
c.2000–1700 BCE
1800 cobbles placed; central cairn burials with red ochre
2021
UNESCO Jomon Prehistoric Sites inscription 1632-012
On the ground
Structures & features
40.7386° N · 140.7286° E · 145 m · 2 mapped features
Ring-ditch stone circle
stone circle35 m ring ditch with 1800 cobbles and central cairn
40.7387° N · 140.7285° EPeripheral ditch burials
cemetery14 ring-ditch burials with red-ochre and lacquer boards
40.7383° N · 140.7288° E
Gallery