Hamakita Man and the Site of Nekata Limestone Quarry at Hamakita

Abstract

As compared with the remarkable progress of the study of the pre-ceramic culture, the knowledge of Pleistocene man in Japan has been deficient. This may be explained by the fact that most of the pre-ceramic sites so far discovered are open-sites in the loam, which are not suitable for preservation of skeletal remains, and that most of skeletal remains of Pleistocene man, as were found at the sites of Ushikawa, Mikkabi and Kuzuu, are mere fragments occurring in the deposits in the limestone fissures, having been transported and laid by water. The site of Nekata, where the Hamakita man was found, is one of such fissure deposts.The site of the Nekata limestone quarry (Maruhon Co.) at Hamakita is located 16km. north-northeast of Hamamatsu City, Central Japan, and 22km. away from the Pacific Coast (Fig. I-1). The site is situated on the southern border of hills sloping down to a plane which is cultivated into rice field (Figs. I-2 and I-11). The quarry is working to Palaeozoic limestone having caves and fissures which are filled with fossiliferous Pleistocene deposits. Plans of the quarry in which the site is located are shown in Figs. I-3-5 and its birdseyeview in Fig. I-12.The present paper deals with the result of the surveys and excavations of the site performed between 1960 and 1963. In the course of five surveys carried out between 1960 and 1962, several fragments of human bone were obtained with many mammalian fossils as follows (cf. Figs. I-3-5): skull, hip bone and ulna at Locality C ; humerus and clavicle at Locality D ; tibia at Locality B ; Lower molar at Locality D. From June to August, 1962, excavation was made in the Main Cave (Areas I, II and III in Fig. I-5) at the site, for the purpose of obtaining mammalian fossils as many as possible and clarifying the situation of the Pleistocene deposits so as to determine the geologic age of the site (Figs. I-8 and I-9). In June, 1963, excavation was made at another cave (Area IV in Fig. I-4) for the same purpose.