Full view of the Sannai-Maruyama Site

This is a large settlement site from the middle of the Early Jomon period to the end of the Middle Jomon period (approx. 3,900 – 2,200 BC), representing the Jomon archaeological sites of Japan. It is located on a 20 m high terrace on the right bank of the Okidate River, at the tip of a rolling hill extending from the Hakkoda mountain system in the southwest part of Aomori City.

The site covers an area of 42 ha, where the remains of pit dwellings and pillar-supported buildings, aligned pit graves, buried pottery, mounds, storage pits, roads and the remains of large buildings are systematically arranged. A great amount of earthenware and stoneware have been unearthed, including approximately 2,000 clay figures (the largest in Japan), animal and plant remains unearthed from low-lying areas that show the dietary life and the environment, and organic remains such as wood products, bones and antler objects, baskets and lacquerware, as well as jade and trading goods like obsidian from distant lands and asphalt.

These unearthed remains and articles present a real picture of stable settlements. However, the analysis of food residues and lifestyles at that time has provided no evidence of agriculture and livestock farming.

Various structures were constructed in the same place for a long time, which means systematic land use. Pollen DNA assays and other research have made it clear that Jomon people were actively engaged in the natural surroundings with Japanese beech and other deciduous broad-leaved trees to maintain and manage the natural resources, and that they established an artificial ecosystem called Jomon satoyama (community-based woods) consisting of useful trees such as chestnuts, walnuts and lacquer trees to sustain their lives.

The way of land use for sustainable settlement by skillfully using natural resources presents an outstanding example of negotiation between humans and the environment.

Library *Click to enlarge.

Overview of the Sannai-Maruyama Site (present)

Remains of a large pillar-supported building

Large flat clay figure (important cultural property)

2012 Jomon House Building (for elementary school students)

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Literature

• The Sannai Maruyama Site – An Extraordinarily Large Settlement in Prehistoric Japan [pamphlet, January 2012]
  Japanese(PDF:7.63MB)｜English(PDF:3.66MB)
• Special National Historical Site – Sannai-Maruyama Site [leaflet, January 2013]
  Japanese(PDF:4.00MB)｜English(PDF:3.11MB)
• Jomon Archaeological Sites in Hokkaido and Northern Tohoku, Special historic Sannai-Maruyama Site [February 2018] (PDF:4.40MB)

Video

• Sanmaru’s Hand-on Village Development – Jomon House Building (YouTube)

Basic Information

Site Location

Sannai-Maruyama, Aomori City, Aomori Prefecture

Facility Exhibiting Excavated Articles

Sannai-Maruyama Site Jomon Jiyukan

Address	Sannai-Maruyama 305, Aomori, Aomori prefecture, 038-0031
Tel	017-781-6078 / +81-17-781-6078
Website	Sannai-Maruyama Site
Hours	9-00 – 17:00 (last admission: 30 minutes before the closing time) Golden week, June 1 – September 30: until 18:00
Closed	Year-end and New Year holidays (Dec. 30 – Jan. 1)
Admission fee	Free
Access	■~30 min. by car from JR Aomori Station (Ou Line) (municipal bus for Unten Menkyo Center, 300 yen) ■~10 min. by car from JR Shin-Aomori Station (Tohoku Shinkansen Line) (Shuttle de Route Bus Nebutan-go left hand turn, 200 yen) ■~5 min. by car from Aomori IC on the Tohoku Expressway Access map in Japanese(PDF:468KB)

	Sannai-Maruyama Site mascot Sanmaru

Inquiries

Sannai-Maruyama Historical Site Preservation and Utilization Promotion Office (Jomon Jiyukan), Cultural Properties Protection Division, Aomori Prefectural Board of Education

Address	Sannai-Maruyama 305, Aomori, Aomori prefecture, 038-0031
Tel	017-781-6078 / +81-17-781-6078