4 Tsugaru City, Aomori
Tagoyano Site
Designated as a Historic Site on June 26, 1944
Stage IIa (ca. 4,000 BCE – 3,000 BCE) (Historic Site: ca. 4,000 BCE – 2,000 BCE)
This site is located in Tsugaru City on the Tsugaru Peninsula in Aomori Prefecture, on a hill at an elevation of 10 to 15 meters along the Iwaki River. It is on what used to be an inland bay called Paleo-Lake Jusanko, which appeared during a marine transgression. This place was ideal for fishing and shellfish harvesting. Deciduous broadleaved forests spread in the hinterland.
The settlement comprises pit dwellings, graves, shell mounds, dumping grounds, storage pits and other features, showing a settlement structure that was typical of that time. The shell mounds have yielded shells from brackish shellfish (Japanese basket clams and other shellfish), fish bones (from carp, mackerel, etc.), and bird bones (from geese, ducks, etc.). From the dumping ground where people performed rituals and ceremonies as part of daily life, implements made from the bones of whales, dolphins, and other large animals, have been found, in addition to pots and stone tools. A pit grave has yielded the bones of an adult female that indicate she had given birth.
The excavation of many unfinished bracelets made of dog-cockle shells (Gycymeris albolineata) shows that people living in this settlement manufactured shell products onsite. Dog-cockle bracelets dating from the same period have been unearthed in Hokkaido, and Hokkaido obsidian has been excavated at the Tagoyano Site. These facts shed light on production and trade across the Tsugaru Strait at that time.
This component part, dating from the first half of the development stage of sedentism, is an archaeological site of a settlement accompanied by shell mounds. It is an important archaeological site that attests to a livelihood of an inland bay area and to settlements there at that time.
Site tours
- Location
- Kizukuri Tateoka Tagoyano, Tsugaru, Aomori Prefecture
- Access
-
From Kizukuri Station (JR Gono Line):
- Approx. 20 min. by car
From Goshogawara Station (JR Gono Line):
- Approx. 35 min. by Konan Bus on the Goshogawara-Shiurachosha route to the Tagoyano bus stop, and then 3 min. on foot
From the Kamegaoka Burial Site:
- Approx. 3 min. by car
- Approx. 10 min. on foot
From the Tsugaru City Jomon Dwelling Museum Kamegaoka Archaeology Collections:
- Approx. 20 min. by car
From the Tsugaru City Kizukuri Kamegaoka Archaeological Museum:
- Approx. 10 min. by car
- Site guides
-
Volunteer guides (free, in Japanese, for 30 to 60 min.)
- For general visitors
- Available between 10:00 and 15:00 on weekends and national holidays from April to November
(Guides are on standby at the Information Counter in the southern area of the Kamegaoka Burial Site.) - Reservations are not required.
Site tours by specialist staff (in Japanese/English)
- Group of 10+: Reservations are required one week in advance.
- Remarks
- Closed in winter (from December 1 to March 31)
Visitor facilities
- Name
- Tsugaru City Jomon Dwelling Museum Kamegaoka Archaeology Collections
- Address
- Kizukuri Wakamidori 59-1, Tsugaru, Aomori Prefecture, 038-3138
- Tel.
- 0173-42-6490 / +81-173-42-6490
- Fax.
- 0173-42-6490 / +81-173-42-6490
- Website
-
Tsugaru City Jomon Dwelling Museum Kamegaoka Archaeology Collections [in Japanese]
- Hours
-
9:00 – 16:00
- Closed
-
Mondays (or Tuesday if Monday is a national holiday)
The day following a national holiday
Year-end and New Year's holidays (December 29 – January 3) - Admission
-
General visitors
- Adults: 200 yen; High school and university students: 100 yen; Elementary and junior high school students: 50 yen
Group of 15+
- Adults: 100 yen; High school and university students: 50 yen; Elementary and junior high school students: 20 yen
- Facility guides
-
Exhibit explanations by specialist staff (free, in Japanese/English, for 20 to 60 min.)
- Group of 10+: Reservations are required one week in advance.
- Facility
information -
Note: The exhibition room on the second floor is not wheelchair-accessible.
- Access
-
From Kizukuri Station (JR Gono Line):
- Approx. 15 min. on foot
From Goshogawara Station (JR Gono Line):
- Approx. 20 min. by Konan Bus on the Goshogawara-Shiurachosha route, Ajigasawa route or Dekishima route to the Yurakucho, Tsugaru Shiyakusho-mae or Shakochan Onsen bus stop, and then approx. 5 min. on foot
Facility introduction
- Name
- Tsugaru City Kizukuri Kamegaoka Archaeological Museum
- Facility
introduction -
This facility features artifacts unearthed at archaeological sites in Tsugaru City.
- Address
-
Kizukuri Tateoka Byobuzan 195, Tsugaru, Aomori Prefecture, 038-3283
- Tel.
- 0173-45-3450 / +81-173-45-3450
- Fax.
- 0173-45-3450 / +81-173-45-3450
- Website
-
Kizukuri Kamegaoka Archaeological Museum (the City of Tsugaru website) [in Japanese]
- Name
- Tsugaru City Morita Historical and Folklore Museum
- Facility
introduction -
This facility exhibits mainly artifacts excavated at the Ishigami Site in Aomori Prefecture (collectively designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan). The Ishigami Site features a cylindrical pottery culture and is the same age as the Tagoyano Site.
- Address
- Morita Tsukimino 340-2, Morita-cho, Tsugaru, Aomori Prefecture, 038-2816
- Tel.
- 0173-26-2201 / +81-173-26-2201
- Fax.
- Website
-
Tsugaru City Morita Historical and Folklore Museum (the City of Tsugaru website) [in Japanese]
CONTACT
Department of Social Education and Culture, Tsugaru City Board of Education
Kizukuri Wakamidori 52, Tsugaru, Aomori Prefecture, 038-3138
TEL： 0173-49-1194 / +81-173-49-1194 ／ FAX：0173-49-1212 / +81-173-49-1212
Department of Social Education and Culture, Tsugaru City Board of Education [in Japanese]
Pamphlets, etc.
-
World Heritage Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan, Tagoyano Site
[pamphlet in English and Japanese, November 2021]
