Yoshinogari

Excavation ahead of an industrial development in the 1980s found a settlement occupied through most of the Yayoi period, roughly the third century BC to the third century AD, and the scale stopped the project: about forty hectares of moated enclosure with the postholes of watchtowers, raised storehouses, a large ceremonial building, and burial jars containing over three thousand individuals, some with wounds and one with a severed head - evidence of organised conflict at a period when rice agriculture, metal and social hierarchy were arriving together. Whether the site relates to Yamatai, the polity described in a third-century Chinese chronicle whose location has been argued about for centuries, is a live and unresolved question that Saga is happy to raise. Reconstructions stand over the excavated ground - dwellings, storehouses, palisades and a tower - across a very large park.

History

The area was part of ancient Hizen Province and in the Edo period belonged to the Saga Domain (Wikipedia, Yoshinogari, Saga).

Highlights

• A moated settlement - about forty hectares with palisades, watchtowers and storehouses.
• Burial jars - over three thousand individuals, some showing evidence of conflict.
• The Yamatai question - an unresolved argument about a third-century polity's location.
• Large reconstructions - dwellings and towers rebuilt over the excavated ground.

When to go

April to November. Half a day. The park is very large - allow walking time.

Good to know

Almost everything visible is reconstruction, and the details are inferred. The park is large with little shade. English signage is limited in depth. Finds are in the museum rather than in the field.

Nearby

Saga city is west; Dazaifu is north-east.

Key facts