As part of the Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples research project on the prehistoric period in 2021, I conducted a survey on Okhotsk Culture of Okushiri Island from July 6 to 8, 2021. On July 6, I conducted a field survey of the Miyatsu and Aonae Sand Dune sites, which are Okhotsk cultural sites, and on July 7 and 8, I observed the excavated materials, mainly pottery. Here I would like to report on the results of this research and give some insights into Okhotsk Culture of Okushiri Island, which remains largely unexplored.
The fact that the Okushiri Island-specific characteristics are frequently observed in the application techniques of Okhotsk type pottery, and that they continue to be observed from the Towada type period to the Chinsenmon type and Early Haritsukemon type periods, suggests that the Aonae Sand Dune site was not a seasonal camp for the northern Hokkaido group, but one of the settled centers of Okhotsk Culture period in the southern Hokkaido Sea area. The formation of this site is thought to have been a result of pottery production. As shown by the pottery, the formation of this base is thought to have started in the Susuya type period, or the stage of the establishment of the Okhotsk Culture. As for the Susuya type pottery, it appears to be of a type commonly found in the Hokkaido region, so the theory that Sakhalin Island was the camp site of a group with a mother village there is also untenable. In addition, there are no traces of large settlements on Sakhalin Island that could have been the mother village of seasonal migration during the Susuya and Towada type periods. The excavation of jar-shaped pottery unique to the eastern part of Hokkaido from the Aonae Sand Dune site indicates that the Okhotsk people of Okushiri Island interacted not only with groups in the northern part of Hokkaido, but also with groups in the eastern part of Hokkaido, and that this site, with its good natural harbor, functioned as a base for exchange.
