Until 1949 when TADAHIRO AIZAWA noticed the possible existence of the non-ceramic industries in Japan on the basis of the findings at a site near Kiryu in the Kanto district, it had been said that the oldest culture in Japan was the Jomon culture characterlized by Jomon pottery. At the site, stone implements were found in a formation called "the Kanto loam layer" which was presumably formed near the end of the Pleistocene period. Thereafter many students including the author have made efforts to collect more data on the subject in all parts of the country. We may summarize the results obtained up to the present as follows.
The non-ceramic culture in Japan seems to have lasted for a relatively long time, because there are several distinguishable industries in it which can be recognized by the technological characteristics of the stone implements. Typological as well as stratigraphical studies made it possible to classify the following six different industries:
(1) Hand-axe plus Blade industry
(2) Blade industry (capable of more detailed classification)
(3) Knife-blade industry
(4) "Kiridashi"-shaped Knife-blade industry
(5) Point industry
(6) Microlithic industry
These industries, except for (3) and (4) seem to have spread over almost all the country. From the chronological point of view the industries presumably occured one after another, following the above mentioned sequence from (1) to (6), of which (1) to (5) probably belong to Late Pleistocene and (6) belongs to the earliest part of Holocene. According to the radiocarbon dates the beginning of the Jomon culture is estimated to be between 4000 and 5000 B. C., and the industries from (1) to (5) are comparable to the Palaeolithic and the industry (6) to the Mesolithic in Europe.

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This site is located at Seki-machi, Nerima-ku, Tokyo. (Fig. 1, mark ×)
Musashino upland where the site is situated is about 55 metres above the sealevel and forms two river terraces along the river Syakujii which runs along the heights to the East. The upper terrace is the Musashino plane and the lower one is the Tachikawa plane. The difference in height between the terraces is about 6 metres, and Tachikawa plane is about 1 metre higher than the alluvial plane. Burnt pebbles, stone flakes and chips are scattered over the upper part of the slope between Musashino plane and the Tachikawa plane. (Fig. 3)
The stratum consists of Layers 1-7 (Fig. 2) and the relics have been excavated from Layers I-V (Fig. 2). The number of the relics except pebbles excavated from each layer is shown in the list in the text. The blade technique is absent in the industry.
The following are the typical relics found in each layer : Layer I Fig. 4, No. 14. Layer II Fig. 4, Nos. 1-13, 15-17. Layer III Fig. 5, Nos. 19-22. Layer IV Fig. 5, Nos. 23, 24. Layer V Fig. 5, Nos. 25, 26, 27-35.
A piece of charcoal found in Layer II has been identified as a chestnut. Fig. 4, No. 1 is a knife-like tool; No. 8 is a tool like the "Kiridashi" knife; Fig. 5, Nos. 23 and 24 are "point"-like tools. The stratigraphical analysis of the relics shows that the knife-like tool and the tool like the "Kiridashi" knife precede the "point"-like tool.
So far as the present writer's investigation is concerned, not any earthenware has been found in Layer IV. The certainty, however, that here is no earthenware to be assoiated with Layer IV must depend upon further investigation of the site.

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In the Northern Kanto Plain, the stone artifacts excavated from the volcanic ash layer (Kanto Loam Bed) are classified typologically into the following several industries; a. the industry characterized by pebble-tools or hand-axes; b. the industry characterized by crudes and backed blades; c. the industry characterized by points; d. the industry characterized by microblades and microcores, and these are correlated with the geological sequence as follows:

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A. The Nogawa Site and its Stone Culture (KOBAYASHI and ODA)
1. The Nogawa site is located in Kamiishihara, Chofu City, Tokyo. It sits on a low bluff on the Tachikawa Terrace facing across a stream toward the higher Musashino Terrace marked by the Kokubunji Cliff Line (fig. 1).
2. The site was first excavated in 1964, and exploratory excavations were carried on for the next several years (Kidder et al.: 1970). Then a project to widen the stream threatened to destroy the site, and in response the Nogawa Site Excavation Group was formed to excavate the endangered part of the site. Excavations were carried out from June to the end of August 1970 (Nogawa Iseki Chosa Kai: 1970, 1971a, 1971b, 1971c).
3. Geologically the site has thirteen strata (fig. 3). The base stratum XIII is gravel. Over this are nine layers of loam, strata IV to XII, the so-called Tachikawa loam. Four of these strata, strata IVb, V, VII and IX, are black bands of fossil soils. Stratum III is the soft loam, stratum II is a brown humus, and stratum I is a black humus.
4. Culturally there are eleven layers, ten Preceramic Period layers (numbered III, IV1, IV2, IV3a, IV3b, IV4, V, VI, VII and VIII to correspond to the geological strata in which they were found) and one mixed Jomon Period layer in stratum II. More than 10, 000 artifacts were recovered from the Preceramic Period layers. Over 2, 000 are tools or flakes. Another more than 7, 000 artifacts are fire-reddened gravel usually found in heaps. The clarity of stratification, the number of layers, and the quantity of artifacts make Nogawa the best stratified, Preceramic Period site in Japan.
5. The Nogawa data, when correlated with data from other sites in Kanto (fig. 7-10) (in particular, the Heidaizaka Site and ICU Location 15 in Koganei City and the Tsukimino Site Group on the Sagami Terrace in Kanagawa Prefecture), allows definition of four broadly defined phases for the Preceramic Period. The earliest phase, Nogawa layers VIII to V (Heidaizaka layers X to V), has mostly flake tools plus some heavy-duty tools made from pebbles. Phase II, Nogawa layers IV4 to IV1, is characterized by backed blades. Temporally related changes in the form of these backed blade tools are apparent. The early assemblages of the phase are marked by lightly worked blades of knife-like form. Later assemblages see changes to smaller tools of more geometric form and the appearance of small, bifacially worked points. (Phase III of the South Kanto Preceramic Period is distinguished by the presence of microblades and the cores from which they were obtained. However, this phase is not represented at the Nogawa site). The latest Preceramic Period phase, phase IV, Nogawa layer III, consists mainly in large, biface points and pebble tools.
6. The heaps of fire-reddened gravel are found mostly in Nogawa layers IV1 to IV4, i. e. Preceramic Period phase II. X-ray diffraction analysis done by M. Suzuki of Tokyo University shows the stones to have been heated to more than 600°C. The meaning of these heaps is unclear. It is not known whether they were used as found-single layers of gravel spread in near circular patterns one to two meters in diameter-or whether they were simply disposed of at a location in the site some distance from where they were used. However, many of the stones do have a kind of tar-like substance on them, and one is probably justified in thinking the stones were used directly in some manner for cooking. Also, pounding stones, grinding stones and anvil-like stones are frequently found in close proximity to the heaps.

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This paper is written about the sedimentological aspect of the seaside reclaimed land. The reclaimed land can be defined geologically as follows:
1) The reclaimed soil layers are a kind of sediments which belong to the newest geological age.
2) The reclaimed land consists of soil layers which human beings made consciously.
And the sedimentological definition of the reclaimed land can be given as follows:
1) The reclaimed area offers a space in which geological formations or layers are depositted.
2) The area is a kind of sedimentological testing field.
3) The reclaimed soil layers are filled with the heights of more than five meters above sealevel.
4) Those reclaimed deposits have been formed in the extremely short time.
Many reclaimed-lands have some geotechnical problems, which derive from four typical characteristics of the reclaimed land. Those characteristics are as follows:
1) Most reclaimed lands are formed as weak ground.
2) Most reclaimed layers consist of various kind of materials.
3) Most reclaimed deposits are usually very loose.
4) Groundwater level in the seaside reclaimed ground makes it a rule to be very high.
Considering above-mentioned difinitions and problems, the reclaimed land or ground should be studied hereafter from the viewpoint of sedimentology and geology.

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In the fall of 1947, the author noticed the fact that the unknown stone industries without earthenwares are buried in the so-called Kanto-loam beds at Iwajuku, Kasakake village, Gunma prefecture, northern Kanto district. Subsequent investigations assured us that these buried industries represent the non-ceramic or the pre-Jomon culture of Japan. As a result of the author's archaeological research in this region, it has been shown that the non-ceramic culture is divided into four different stone industries; namely, the microlithic, the point, the blade and the hand-axe industries. From a stratigraphical point of view, on the other hand, three beds of loam (upper, middle and lower) occur in the northern Kanto district. A correlation between the archaeological and geological records seems to be as follows;
It will certainly be significant that in the Akagi region, the point iudustry is usually found from the upper loam, while the hand-axe industry in the middle or the upper part of the lower loam.

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1. The Kamiyachi site of early Paleolithic era has been found in the Nakatsugawa valley, southern part of the Yamagata prefecture. There are 6 geomorphological surfaces in this valley, and the site is located on the higher terrace II. This terrace is composed of thick clay or silt layers, nich seem to be lacustrine deposits. In the period of the making of this surface, the Nakatsugawa valley was changed into a lake caused by some landslides.
2. Stone tools discovered from Kamiyachi loc. B are pointed tools (Gongen-yama type), scrapers, knives, proto handaxes, picks, choppers, chopping tools, pebblepoints, hammerstones, disc-cores (Levalloisian type), flakes, amorphous tools etc. This culture, containing Levalloisian technique and “Gongen-yama type pointed tools”, may be correlated to the paleolithic culture of the Middle Loam era in the Kanto district.
3. From the view point of the geomorphological and archeological study, it would be possible to say that the site was formed by the middle of the Würm glacial stage.

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1) Situated at 255-9, Of uji 12-ku, Iwata-shi, Shizuoka Prefecture, this site lies on the west side of the higher part of Iwata-bara Upland rising on the east side of the Tenryu River. (Fig. 1, Mark×)
2) Excavation was carried out for a week from August 21st to 26th, 1960, under auspicious of the Board of Education for Iwata City.
3) The excavation began from Trench A measuring 20 meters by 2 meters, followed by the work on Trenches B and C lying on the north and south sides of the Trench A, respectively. Layers in the site are as follows. (Fig. 2)
I Humus (black soil).........20-30cm II Dark brown soil.........30-40cm III Brown soil.........10-40cm IV Light yellowish brown soil.........30-40cm V Yellow clay with gravel.........30-40cm VI Gravel.........?
The second dark brown soil is the only layer yielding artifacts, which were always found together with gravel. Judging from such a status, they had something associated with gravel. The association is common to all the trenches in this site. In addition, nothing but stone implements was excavated from the site.
4) The materials of the stone implements are sandstone, slate and shale, largesized ones being made of the first two materials, while small ones of the last, with a single exception made of chert. Accordingly, the industry carried in this site can be said to have developed according to the so-called Bladetechnique using the shale as its main material. (Figs. 3-6)
5) Artifacts from the site are as follows : Knife-blade.........39 Bifaced tool (or point?).........1 Spatulate scraper.........1 Gravers (burins).........5 Burin-spalls.........4 Scrapers......... Blade cores.........7 Blades.........48 Grooved hone.........1 Hones.........5 Hammer stone.........1 Polishing and rubbing stones........5 Milling stone.........1 Flakes and chips.........202 Total: 323
6) This site is characterized by the Stone-age Culture rich in variety of stone implements represented by the so-called knife-blade stone implements. In other words, it can be said to be of the Knife-blade industry which has a strong tendency to the microlithic. Among finds are included a milling stone, the kind of which has never been discovered before out of sites of the same age, polishing and rubbing stones, hones, etc. According to the fact, economical basis of the Japanese Pre-ceramic Culture Age, which has been thought vaguely to be on the life of food gathering mainly by hunting, now comes to the stage to he reconsidered with materials newly unearthed from this site.

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Since the charcoal and shells from the shell mound of Natsushima yielded the radiocarbon dates more than 9000 years B. P., the age of Jomon pottery has been subjected to controversy among archaeologists in Japan. While some archaeologists, particularly Prof. Sugao Yamanouchi, threw doubt to the radiocarbon dates, the author regards them as acceptable from the view point of a new concept, “the group of pottery types”. The concept depends upon that several succeeding pottery types have some basic traits in common which underwent change in the course of time, and such group of pottery types can be taken as the unit of assumed cycle of the change. Eleven groups of pottery types in total are assigned to the Stone Age of Japan and the distribution of them among the subdivisions of the age indicates that the older is the subdivision, the larger number of groups belongs to it suggesting the longer time duration of the subdivision. Comparison of the archaeological framework of these groups of pottery types with the radiocarbon dates is presented on Table 1 in the text.

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The article deals with the dark bands in volcanic ash beds which cover the tertiary hills and uplands in southern Kwanto Region. The main conclusions are as follows:
1. Dark bands show no peculiarity in grain sizes and mineral composition-s, but abound in organic carbon and nitrogeon. Dark colors are due to humic materials.
2. Field observations tell they are not the zones of illuviation at present time. So, they are so-called -fossil soils, and are able to be used tephrochro-nologically as secondary key horizons.
3. One to six bands are observed. The upper two are most common, and the lower ones are sometimes shown by cracky or chocolate-colored zones.
4. Soil-types shown by these fossil soils are uncertain. However, according to their thickness and its uniformity, prairie conditions are imagined at those times.
5. These fossil soils have close relation with the stone implements of Ja-panese palaeolithic era which has been closed up after Second World War.

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In January 1964, writers found two stone-tools from the Kwanto loam in the neighbourhood of Yamagata-machi, Naka-gun Ibaraki Prefecture. Its geological horizon probably correlated to the Musashino loam in the Southern Kwanto District. And the stone-tools are made from siliceous shale belonging to the Miocene formation in these district. The one of them is core hand-axe, and the other is core scraper, both of which are worked with modern technique to make flakes and microliths.

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There are some Japanese geologists and archaeologists who still refuse to admit the presence of the Early Palaeolithic in Japan, into which we have been carrying out investigations since 1965. One reason of their denial is that the geological datings of the layers from which lithic implements were obtained are not certain, and another is that the lithic implements themselves are not artificial.
In this paper the author intends to certify the opinion that there was the Early Palaeolithic Period in Japan, by taking up horizons and stone artifacts of the cultural layers ‘0’ of the Iwajuku Site and the cultural layers 5-8 of the Hoshino Site.
The author published a paper entitled “Problems of the Early Palaeolithic in Japan” in this Journal, Vol. 9, No. 3·4, 1971, and the present paper deals with the discussions supplementing the previous paper.

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