More detailed oriented than I can ever be

In nearby Tsunan there are several archaeological digs going on. The area had been set to rebuild a section of rice fields, so the archaeologists swooped in and borrowed some of the land to look for artifacts. They found quite a few places with hand-carved rock and they date it by taking soil samples to see where the rock is in relation to volcanic ash. Since they know when the volcanoes erupted, they know about what time people were settled in the valley. The little rectangular holes you see in the photo above is where they found something, and then took the earth samples to date it.

The rocks they find are presumed to have been collected a few kilometers deeper in the valley where there is a mountain with stones perfect for making tools.

They only have one summer to find as much as they can, as by next year this area will once again be growing rice and they will have moved on. Even with that rush, it really is amazing to see how painstakingly detailed they are. Clearing out that entire area one little spoon-full at a time, and placing it on the conveyor belt you see in one of the photos.

Just after you pass this site, riding deeper into the mountains, the scenery is spectacular with rice fields and vegetable patches wild flowers and planted flowers, great views of the mountains and rivers, eventually running into two little hamlets which still have some thatch roofs... I can't help but wonder how amazing this place would have looked before concrete and electric lines, and how peaceful without the roar of tractors and combines and the whir of weed-whackers, or how wild it would have been back when those first stone-tooled settlers arrived to settle and hunt.

I know there are ancient remains like this ALLLLLL over the place in Japan, but anyone in this area that is interested in this type of thing should definitely stop by at Najyomon, a great natural history museum with lots of activities to "keep the culture alive", such as making earthn pots as people would have in the Jyomon period, or making rice-straw crafts, working with silk, etc. The only thing I don't like is thier spooky website.