Moro Heritage Site
茂呂遺跡 | |
 Stone marker and information board in the site's west side | |
| Location | Tokyo, Itabashi Ward |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 35°45′14.5614″N 139°40′35.583″E / 35.754044833°N 139.67655083°E |
| Type | landmark |
| History | |
| Periods | Japanese Paleolithic |
| Site notes | |
| Ownership | Public |
| Public access | No |
The Moro Heritage Site (茂呂遺跡, Moro iseki), shown on some maps as Moro Heritage or Moro Archaeological Site, is an archaeological site where stone tools from the Paleolithic Age (between 3.3 million years ago and c. 11,650 cal BP) were found in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo, Japan.
History
In March 1951, a junior high school student called Hiroshi Takizawa (瀧澤 浩, Takizawa Hiroshi) (who would later become an archaeologist) passing through the area found obsidian stone tools and clusters of pebbles on a cross-sectional part of a road that cut through a hill called Osedo-yama (オセド山, Osedo yama). A joint excavation was conducted by Meiji University and Musashino Museum in July of the same year. This was the second survey on the Paleolithic Age in Japan after a study of the Iwajuku archaeological site in Gunma Prefecture. It became clear that Paleolithic culture, which is older than that from the Jōmon period, had spread universally in Japan. In addition, the knife-shaped stoneware excavated in this survey had a very distinctive form and was named a Moro knife (茂呂型ナイフ形石器, Moro-gata naifu-gata sekki).
The stoneware consists of burins, side-scrapers, flakes and backed points. The archaeological site was designated as a historic site of Tokyo in 1969, and as a historic site of Itabashi Ward in 1984. The 22 excavated stone tools were also designated as tangible cultural properties of Tokyo in 1999.[1]
Location
The site is in Jōhoku-Chūō Park in Tokyo, but it is not accessible so as to protect the wooded area in the site. A stone column and information boards show the site’s location.
