抄録
The purpose of this paper is to present the result of recent investigations into the palaeolithic sites of the Chugoku Mountains, and to hypothesize some routes of cultural contact in southwestern Japan, with particular reference to the Japan Sea side area.
1. The Palaeolithic cultural chronology in the Chugoku mountainous region can be recognized as follows: The knife-shaped tool tradition is divided into phases, I, II and III. Phase I is characterized by Moro-type or Tatenogahara-type knife-shaped tools or trapezoids. Axe-shaped tools are associated with most assemblages. Phase II is marked by more elaborated Moro-type knife-shaped tools and the Sunagawa-type blade technique. Phase III is distinguished by the predominance of knife-shaped tools on wide flakes. The micro-blade tradition includes two kinds of assemblages: one is characterized by subconical micro-cores, and the other contains wedge-shaped micro-cores made by the Yubetsu technique.
2. The distribution of eight palaeolithic sites in the Chugoku Mountains seems to suggest the appearance of a traffic route along the ridge of the mountains during phases I-II of the knife-shaped tool tradition; it also suggests the development of other routes crossing the mountains during phase III. It can be thought that there was a main route along the coast of the Japan Sea, which branched off the route along the ridge of the Chugoku Mountains in the San'in region. Since wedge-shaped microcores were recently unearthed at Onbara site, Okayama Prefecture, it should be possible to pursue the route connecting the micro-blade industries in the Korean Penisula and on the Japan Sea side of Honshu, Japan.
