Abstract
“Jomon Archaeological Sites in Hokkaido and Northern Tohoku”, originally listed in a tentative
list of state party in Japan on January 5, 2009, was finally selected as an official candidate for
the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage designation in 2021 by a governmental panel on July 30,
2019, after years of recommendations. It has been questioned whether the “Jomon Archaeological
Sites” can represent ‘Jomon Culture’ throughout the Japanese archipelago, and whether ‘Jomon
Culture’ has Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) as a World Heritage. ‘Jomon Culture’ is a
typical example of the techno-complex concept composed of several archaeological ‘cultures’;
we therefore need to improve the wider understanding of this nomination. A ‘cultural sphere’ of
Northern Japan in the Jomon Period is used as a unit of OUV. This article demonstrates that a
‘cultural sphere’ of the Tsugaru Strait was maintained in the early Yayoi Period, indicated by maps
of archaeological sites.
