Abstract
The Y-shaped lumbers of chestnut trees from the Jomon period about 4000 years ago were excavated at the Sakuramachi site in Oyabe City, Toyama, Japan in 1997. The usage of Y-shaped lumbers at this site has not yet been clarified. A field survey of the Y-shaped lumbers of the Sakuramachi site was performed and structural characteristics of the Y-shaped lumbers were investigated by the author Ozawa et al. According to structural characteristics, the hypothesis that they could have been used as sledges has been proposed. It is thought that the people from the Jomon period about 4000 years ago used the Y-shaped lumbers to transport heavy items such as giant trees. Giant chestnut trees were excavated at the sites of the Jomon period such as the Sakuramachi, the Mawaki, the Chikamori, the Teraji and the Yonaizumi sites and so on. The giant tree culture had been existed in the Hokuriku region on the Sea of Japan coast in the Jomon period. In this paper, the relationship between the Y-shaped lumbers and giant trees excavated at both the Sakuramachi and Yonaizumi sites are discussed.
