Ōdai Yamamoto I Site
大平山元I遺跡 | |
Ōdai Yamamoto I Site | |
| Location | Sotogahama, Aomori, Japan |
|---|---|
| Region | Tōhoku region |
| Coordinates | 41°04′02″N 140°33′18″E / 41.06722°N 140.55500°E |
| Type | settlement |
| History | |
| Founded | Jōmon period |
| Site notes | |
| Discovered | 1998 |
| Excavation dates | 1998 |
| Public access | Yes (facilities are under construction at the site) |
The Ōdai Yamamoto I Site (大平山元I遺跡, Ōdaiyamamoto ichi iseki) is a Jōmon archaeological site in the town of Sotogahama, Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. Excavations in 1998 uncovered forty-six earthenware fragments which have been dated as early as 14,500 BC (ca 16,500 BP); this places them among the earliest pottery currently known. As the earliest in Japan, this marks the transition from the Japanese Paleolithic to Incipient Jōmon. Other pottery of a similar date has been found at Gasya and Khummi on the lower Amur River. Such a date puts the development of pottery before the warming at the end of the Pleistocene.