Wide flake blades made using the Setouchi technology, characterizes the Inland Sea region during the late Paleolithic period. At the foot of Mt.Nijo, numerous sites can be found where these blades were made. At these sites, many discarded flakes and backed blades broken during the process of manufacturing have been unearthed. This is the earliest evidence of human occupation in Nara Prefecture.

knife-shaped tools (kou-type)
from sites of the northern foot of Mt.Nijo

dogu: clay figurines excavated
from Kashihara site, Kashihara City

The Jomon Period is characterized by an emphasis on a gathering lifestyle due to the warming up of the climate and the resulting change of fauna. The invention of pottery to cook and store food and the adoption of bows and arrows in order to hunt small mammals mark the beginning of this period. Food provided by the evergreen and broadleaf deciduous forests covering the Japanese archipelago was so rich that it halted the advance of farming technology. The people of this period were able to take in as many calories as we do now. By having a stable lifeway, the creativity of the Jomon people was used to make richly decorated pottery and many ritual objects.

The combined use of bronze ceremonial objects, iron tools, stoneware and woodenware are other characteristics of the Yayoi Period. Some local elite who had both the religious power to use bronze ceremonial objects and political power came to be referred to as kings in Chinese historical resources.

bronze arrowheads and bronze disk
(from sites in Nara)
disk is now exhibited at Karako-Kagi Archeological Museum, Tawaramoto Town

stone picker for harvesting rice
(Karako-Kagi site, Tawaramoto Town)

During this period, rice cultivation accompanied by other grains and beans was adopted from the Korean peninsula along with totally new social systems and technologies. Newly formed farming societies, which had become wealthier due to the introduction of wet rice cultivation, started to battle with each other in order to achieve more wealth and land which would yield them wealth. These frequent battles eventually led to the appearance of regional states led by local elite who gradually accumulated religious and political power.

jug
(Kazu site, Kashihara City)