Yoshinogari Archaeological Site

Yoshinogari 吉野 ヶ 里 遺跡 (Yoshinogari iseki) Is the name of a large and complex Yayoi archaeological site in Yoshinogari and Kanzaki in Saga Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan. According to the chronology established by Yayoi ceramic series in the 20th century, Yoshinogari was active between the 3rd century BC and the 3rd century AD. However, absolute dating methods such as radiocarbon dating using accelerator mass spectrometry have indicated that the oldest Yayoi component found at Yoshinogari is older than 400 BC.

History
This archaeological site is of great importance for Japanese and world prehistory due to its large size, the outstanding characteristics of the complex and the objects that have been found there. Yoshinogari is made up of a settlement, a cemetery, and various enclosures surrounded by ditches and palisades. A wide range of objects have been excavated at the Yoshinogari site, including Chinese bronze mirrors, Japanese-style bronze mirrors, bronze daggers, coins, bells, and halberds, iron tools, wooden tools, prehistoric human hair, among others. The site covers a total area of ​​about 40 hectares. Since 1986 the site has been explored and investigated by archaeologists from various institutes and agencies. Because of its prominent features, the objects found, and its significance to Japan's prehistory and early history, the site was designated a "Special National Historic Site" in 1991, and a National Park was created there in 1992. Various ancient structures have been rebuilt and the park is a major tourist attraction.

Characteristics of the middle period
North enclosure showing late Yayoi building reconstructions with raised floors, trenches, and palisades at Yoshinogari. Mortuary elements are prominent in this sub period. For example, a 30 x 40 m mound type burial site was built at the northern end of the hill. Five of the six vessel burials in the center of the mound contained cylindrical jade-like ornaments made of crystal from China and bronze daggers from the Korean peninsula. The mound is located in an area remote from most burials, which confirms the theory of some archaeologists that the leaders of Yoshinogari were buried in this mound.

More than 2,000 burial jars dating to this period have been found in excavations, both inside and outside the trench areas. Many of these burials were arranged in a long row, a few hundred meters long, parallel to the length of the hill in the center of the site. Excavated artifacts from the middle Yayoi period indicate the presence of some status distinctions. Large raised-floor wooden barns were built at the end of this period in the center and southern edge of the site. It would appear that an area from the Middle Yayoi period appears to have been dedicated to the casting of bronze implements, as numerous molds have been found there. In the same ceramic elements similar to that which was common on the coast of Korea have been found (perhaps from the last "jeomtodae togi", Hanja: 粘土 带 土 器 or beginnings of "togi wajil", Hanja: 瓦 质 土 器). These events have led some Japanese archaeologists to propose that during the Middle Yayoi, interaction with the Korean peninsula was related to casting in bronze.

In ZLS
This archaeological park is visited in the manga by Franchouchou in search of a "Saga" that Kotaro was looking for to complete a challenge that consisted of finding the true meaning of Saga

Ruinas de Yoshinogari