KIKONAI, JAPAN—The Asahi Shimbun reports that a piece of stone painted with a human face some 4,300 years ago has been found at the former location of a pit house at a Jomon Pottery Culture site on the southern edge of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost major island. The stone, which had been flattened and shaped into a triangle, measures about four inches per side. Yasushi Kosugi of Hokkaido University explained that the face image consists of lines forming a nose and eyebrows, oval eyes, and an open, oval mouth. “The find is extremely precious in that it could help ascertain what the spiritual culture in the mid-Jomon period was like,” he said. For more, go to “Japan’s Early Anglers.”
Ancient Face Image Discovered in Northern Japan
News December 21, 2017
SHARE:
Recommended Articles
Off the Grid September/October 2012
Aquincum, Hungary
(Courtesy Aquincum Museum)
Off the Grid July/August 2012
Pucará de Tilcara, Argentina
(Niels Elgaard Larsen/Wikimedia Commons)
Library of Congress
PA Media Pte Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo
-
Features November/December 2017
Reading the White Shaman Mural
Paintings in a Texas canyon may depict mythic narratives that have endured for millennia
(Chester Leeds, Courtesy Shumla) -
Letter From Singapore November/December 2017
The Lion City's Glorious Past
The founding mythology of this city-state was once thought to be pure fiction—archaeology says otherwise
(Courtesy John Miksic) -
Artifacts November/December 2017
Phoenician Mask Mold
(Courtesy Michael Jasmin) -
Digs & Discoveries November/December 2017
The Hidden Stories of the York Gospel
(© Chapter of York)