Abstract
Kita Iwo-to is an unpopulated, remote part of the Volcano Islands, located approximately 650 km north of the Mariana Islands. In 1993, an excavation survey was conducted at the Ishino archaeological site in Kita Iwo-to. Although numerous pottery sherds were collected, an official survey report published in 2005 evaluated them as locally made pottery unique to the island, which appears inconsistent with the pottery chronology of nearby regions. This evaluation may be limited, as pottery studies of the Mariana Islands conducted after the 1980s were not considered, and since the Ishino site pottery was dated to 1855 BP, comparison with contemporaneous pottery from the Mariana Islands is necessary. In this study the information reported from the site was analyzed and the pottery collection stored in Tokyo was briefly inspected. Based on the attributes of pottery (vessel forms, rim form/stance, admixture of extremely thick and thin sherds, large temper/inclusions, mat impressions, and low occurrence of red slip), and Dickinson’s temper analysis, the Ishino site pottery appears to be locally made flat-bottomed vessels originating in the Mariana Islands, dating approximately to 500 BCE–500 CE, possibly 100–500 CE. It is estimated that Austronesian people voyaged from the Mariana Islands to Kita Iwo-to, although their purpose remains unknown.
