Omori Shell Mounds

Middens in Ōmori, Japan

The Ōmori Shell Mounds (Japanese: 大森貝塚) are the middens, located in Ōmori, on the border of Shinagawa and Ōta, Tokyo, Japan.

Overview

The shell mounds had been known to the local people for a long time. In 1877, the American zoologist Edward S. Morse (who would later teach zoology at the University of Tokyo) came to Japan, and, on the second day of his arrival while riding Japan's first railway from Yokohama to Tokyo (founded in 1872), "found" these mounds and instantly felt their importance.

Dr. Morse with his assistants later excavated these mounds from the Jōmon Period and published his paper in 1879, which launched Japan's modern archeology.^[1]

These shell mounds are now part of Ōmori Shell Mounds Garden, open to the public. In 1955, the sites were registered as Japan's Historic Sites. The shells, pottery, and other items that Dr. Morse excavated are mostly stored at the University Museum of the University of Tokyo and are Japan's Important Cultural Property.

Transportation

The Ōmori Shell Mounds are located within five-minutes' walk from the north entrance of Ōmori Railway Station of the JR Keihin–Tōhoku Line.^[2]

References

^ History of Jomon Study / Collections of Morse from The Shell Mounds of Ōmori (The University Museum, the University of Tokyo)
^ Omori Shell Mounds (Live Japan)