The Haneo shell mound and peat bed site, belonging to the middle portion of the Early Jomon period, was discovered at Haneo in the city of Odawara, Kanagawa prefecture, and excavated by the authors in 1998 and 1999.
The site is located approximately 2.5 km west of JR Ninomiya station on the Tokaido line, in an area lying about 1 km inland from the present shoreline of Sagami bay. Shell mound remains and artifact-bearing peat layer are located between 2 to 4 m below the modern ground surface, and have been detected at three locations, along both sides of the tip of a narrow ridge, and at a topographically similar point nearby. In addition to small-scale shell mounds formed at these locations, numerous tree remains and wooden oars thought to have been washed up on the shoreline of that time are also found in scattered fashion, and these materials are believed to follow the shoreline of the advancing bay of the Early Jomon marine transgression. Numerous man-made artifacts and natural remains were left at this shoreline, and as the site became increasingly submerged and surrounding soil conditions grew wet, a thick layer of peat formed as an accumulation covering the shell mound.
The shell mound formed on the slope over elevations measuring from 22 to 24 m, starting from the Sekiyama II style of the Early Jomon and continuing to the older phase of the Kurohama style. Within the shell layers, which had remained completely undisturbed, pottery, stone tools, bones of animals and fish, and bone implements were found in good states of preservation, and from these it was learned that offshore fishing of dolphin, skipjack, swordfish, shark, Japanese giant sea bass, and so forth was actively pursued through the use of boats in Sagami bay of the time. In addition, the bones of one individual thought to have been buried in a flexed position were recovered from the edge of the shell layer.
After the Kurohama period, at the end of the time when the shell layer was formed, while no further accumulation of shell took place, large numbers of abandoned artifacts were recovered from within the peat layer stretching down slope from the lower edge of the shell layer.
Among the many remains recovered, animal bones of deer and wild boar, and those of marine fauna such as dolphin and skipjack were so numerous as to leave no place on which to step, reminding one of a butchering site at the water's edge.
In this manner it was possible to learn from the Haneo shell mound and peat bet site of the conditions of livelihood with respect to the gathering of floral and faunal materials on land, and also to the fishing activity at sea, during the Early Jomon period on Sagami bay. In addition, together with other cultural materials including abandoned lacquered articles and artifacts showing a rich woodworking technology for making wooden implements, it was possible to obtain valuable research materials which can literally be called a time capsule of the Early Jomon period.
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