2019 Volume 28 Issue 1 Pages 13-28
In Ibaraki Prefecture, a buried forest of the late Jomon period was excavated at the Jinyashiki-teishicchi site in the late 1980s. Although plant phytoliths, pollen fossils, and plant macrofossils were already reported, fossil woods have not been reported, and no radiocarbon dating was done. To examine vegetation change around the site, we carried out radiocarbon dating, pollen analysis, and diatom analysis of preserved sediment samples and report their results with that of fossil woods. On the upland around the site, deciduous forests of Quercus subgen. Lepidobalanus spread from the early phase of the late to the early phase of the final Jomon periods, and were replaced by evergreen forests of Castanopsis and Q. subgen. Cyclobalanopsis in the middle Yayoi period. In the valley, a layer of pot sherds and burnt soil was formed during the early to middle phases of the late Jomon period, and Fraxinus grew along the stream, and Castanea stands were maintained on the surrounding slopes. During the late phase of the late to the early phase of the final Jomon periods, a forest of Fraxinus and Q. subgen. Cyclobalanopsis grew on the layer of pot sherds and burnt soil with less human activities around the site.
