Stone hearth - Ishigakoiro

...In the early period, it became common to have hearths in dwellings, and hearths of various shapes were made. In particular, in the middle period, hearths developed significantly, and in addition to the hearths that were simply a hollow dug into the floor, hearths with deep bowl-shaped pottery buried inside (umegamero), stone-surrounded hearths surrounded by river stones, stone-surrounded hearths that combined pottery and stone surroundings, and unique hearths called double hearths with two structures were made, suggesting that the hearths in pit dwellings played an important role in daily life. The indoor hearths that developed in this way were simplified after the Yayoi period, and hearths with hearths on the ground became common, and this tradition continued until the late Kofun period, when they were replaced by hearths (kamado), which appeared around that time and were made for cooking. ...

*Some of the terminology that refers to "stone hearth" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…前期に入ると，住居内に炉をもつことが一般的となり，さまざまな形態をもつ炉がつくられるようになる。とくに中期は炉の発達が著しく，床を掘りくぼめただけの地床炉のほかに，深鉢形土器を埋め込んだ埋甕炉（うめがめろ），河原石をめぐらした石囲炉，土器と石囲を組み合わせた石囲埋甕炉や，炉が二つの構造からなる複式炉と呼ばれる特異な炉などがつくられ，竪穴住居内の炉が生活のうえで重要な役割を果たしたことをうかがわせている。このように発達した屋内炉も弥生時代以降は簡素化し，地床炉が一般的となり，古墳時代後期までその伝統を保つが，そのころ出現をみた，煮炊きを目的としてつくられた竈（かまど）にとってかわられた。…

※「石囲炉」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報