Mawaki
Mawaki Site · Mawaki Jomon Settlement · Mawaki Wooden Circle
Jomon Early 5000 BCE → Middle 3000–2000 BCE → Late 2000–1000 BCE·Jomon (Noto Sea of Japan coastal, Hokuriku)·🇯🇵 Ishikawa Prefecture, Hosu District, Noto Town, Mawaki neighborhood on Noto Peninsula Sea of Japan coast, Japan
About
About Mawaki
Mid-Jomon coastal settlement (c.4000–1200 BCE) at Mawaki on Noto Peninsula — semi-circular bayhead village with four-phase wooden pillar buildings plus Mawaki Wooden Circle (Jomon Stone Circle analogue in chestnut posts): 6 concentric-post circle 30 m diameter and 6 m-high pit-house row with dolphin-bone harpoon and obsidian from Shirataki–Koshidake. Designated National Historic Site 1989, Mawaki shows Noto Jomon as Japan Sea exchange hub — otolith isotopes prove offshore fishing, not inland nut gathering, separating Sea of Japan Jomon from Pacific Goshono.
Why it mattersOnly Sea of Japan Jomon wooden-post circle — wooden analogue to Oyu–Isedotai stone circles proving coastally differentiated ritual architecture.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why wooden chestnut vs Oyu stone at same horizon — forest vs quarry cosmology?
Theories
- 01Noto as Jomon Sea of Japan obsidian–dolphin node; Jomon settlement permanence via marine isotopes
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.4000 BCE Early Jomon → 3000–2500 BCE peak wooden circle
- Period
- Jomon Early 5000 BCE → Middle 3000–2000 BCE → Late 2000–1000 BCE
- Culture
- Jomon (Noto Sea of Japan coastal, Hokuriku)
- Builders
- Middle Jomon fisher–gatherers (Noto Hokuriku)
- Purpose
- Bayhead fishing village with wooden-circle ritual and obsidian-dolphin long-distance exchange
- Abandoned
- c.1200 BCE Late Jomon re-organization to Oyu-type stone circles elsewhere
- Rediscovered
- 1982 road construction exposes pit houses; 1984–88 Ishikawa Prefecture dig finds wooden circle; 1989 National Historic Site
- Excavation
- Excavated
c.4000–3000 BCE
Early–Mid Jomon pit house row with dolphin harpoon and Shirataki obsidian
c.3000–2500 BCE
Mawaki Wooden Circle 30 m chestnut post circle erected
1982–89
Excavation and National Historic Site designation with museum on hill
On the ground
Structures & features
37.3054° N · 137.2082° E · 12 m · 2 mapped features
Mawaki Wooden Post Circle (30 m)
megalithic30 m chestnut post circle with 6 concentric rings 120 posts — Jomon wooden analogue of stone circles
37.3057° N · 137.2085° ECentral Pit-House Row and Dolphin Midden (80 m)
settlement80 m pit-house row with 6 m diameter houses and dolphin-bone midden with obsidian harpoon
37.3050° N · 137.2078° E
Gallery