7.Epi-Jomon Period Burials
Numerous pit graves from the end of the Jomon Period to the Epi-Jomon Period have been discovered in the Tokoro River Estuary site. During this period, tools and accessories came to be buried with their owners when they died, and an especially large number of burial accessories have been found with graves from the Epi-Jomon Period in particular.
Burial accessories discovered include pottery, stone arrowheads, stone axes and other stone tools, eccentric obsidian implements thought to be ritual instruments, and accessories and ornaments including amber beads. There are differences in the amounts and types of burial accessories found in different graves, and amber beads in particular seemed to be concentrated in only certain graves, so these are thought to have been the belongings of people of some special standing. Among the graves, one was found with several thousand amber beads, which is one of the largest amounts found in a grave from this period in all of Hokkaido, showing that someone of significance lived in this area.
【Figure: Epi-Jomon Period pit graves】
