Torihama Shell Midden
Torihama Kaizuka · 鳥浜貝塚 · Wakasa Torihama
Incipient→Early→Middle Jomon 10000–1000 BCE (Jomon hunter-fisher-gatherer with peat preservation)·Jomon (Wakasa Bay Incipient–Early Jomon, Neolithic without agriculture)·🇯🇵 Fukui Prefecture, Mikatakaminaka District, Wakasa Town, Torihama (Hasu River plain wetland near Lake Mikata, Reinan Wakasa Bay south), Japan
About
About Torihama Shell Midden
Early–Middle Jomon shell midden and wetland village (c.12000–3000 BP, 10000–1000 BCE) at Torihama lowland wetland near Lake Mikata, Wakasa, Fukui — 2 ha peat midden excavated 1962–85 by Wakasa Mikata Jomon Museum, famous for Japan's best-preserved Jomon organic remains in peat: dugout canoe 5.5 m (Early Jomon), lacquered wooden tools and comb, 3000 wooden artifacts, seed and nut remains (chestnut, lacquer sap), cord-marked Early Jomon pottery with lipid residue proving 9000-year pottery use continuity, and 300+ burials. Torihama shows Jomon wetland adaptation with year-round sedentism and lacquer technology 9000 BP pushing Jomon complexity beyond classic hunting narrative.
Why it mattersBest Jomon organic preservation — proves 9000-year pottery use continuity (lipids 9000 BP) and lacquer 9000 BP; lacquer comb earliest in Japan, dugout canoe earliest near-complete.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Were chestnut stored as managed arboriculture before rice?
Theories
- 01Jomon wetland sedentism without agriculture (Habu model); lacquer before Yayoi metallurgy
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.10000 BCE incipient Jomon pottery; sedentism 7000 BCE
- Period
- Incipient→Early→Middle Jomon 10000–1000 BCE (Jomon hunter-fisher-gatherer with peat preservation)
- Culture
- Jomon (Wakasa Bay Incipient–Early Jomon, Neolithic without agriculture)
- Builders
- Wakasa Bay Jomon fisher-hunter-gatherers (ancestor to Yayoi)
- Purpose
- Wetland lake-midden village with year-round lacquer and canoe fishery
- Abandoned
- c.1000 BCE (Lake Mikata wetland siltation, shift to Yayoi rice)
- Rediscovered
- 1962 excavation by Mikata Town; 1984 peat re-analysis for canoe; 2016 lipid paper
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.10000–7000 BCE
Incipient–Early Jomon cord pottery with chestnut and lake fish, peat preservation
c.7000–3000 BCE
Dugout canoe 5.5 m, lacquered tools, comb; 9000-year lipid continuity paper 2016
1962–85
Wakasa Museum peat excavation with 3000 wood pieces
On the ground
Structures & features
35.5588° N · 135.8963° E · 5 m · 2 mapped features
Peat Midden and Canoe Horizon
middenWaterlogged peat midden with 5.5 m dugout canoe and wooden tools (7000 BCE)
35.5590° N · 135.8966° ELacquer Tool Area
workshopLacquered wooden combs and urushi ware scatter with chestnut storage pits
35.5585° N · 135.8960° E
Gallery