Storage hole - Chozoketsu

A cave for storing food and other items underground. In ancient times, it played an important role in maintaining communal life. In ruins from the early and middle Jomon period in the Tohoku and Kanto regions, dozens or even hundreds of clustered holes are often found. They are 1-2 meters deep, have narrow mouths and flat bottoms, and are called bag-shaped pits. It seems that acorns, horse chestnuts, and other nuts were stored as communal food. At the Tsukinokizawa ruins in Tochigi Prefecture, a large amount of pottery, animal bones, and charcoal fragments have been excavated, and it is clear that food residues were dumped in the holes after they were abandoned. Similar examples can be found in the early and middle Yayoi period from Kitakyushu to the Kanmon region. They were used for communal management of food such as rice by the village. In the Kofun period, storage holes were built inside pit dwellings. In the eastern part of Japan, it was once popular as a "kitchen set" combined with a hearth.

[Ikuo Ebihara]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

食糧などを地中に蓄える穴蔵。古代には集団生活を維持するうえに重要な役割を果たした。縄文時代の前・中期、東北から関東地方の遺跡では数十ないし数百の群集した穴がよくみつかる。深さ1～2メートルの口が狭く底が平坦(へいたん)な穴で袋状土壙(ふくろじょうどこう)などとよばれる。ドングリ、トチなど堅果類を共同の食糧として備蓄したらしい。栃木県槻沢(つきのきざわ)遺跡では大量の土器や獣骨、炭化物片の出土例があり、廃絶後の穴には食糧残滓(ざんし)などを投棄したことがわかる。類例は弥生(やよい)時代の前・中期に北九州から関門地方でみられる。米など食糧を集落で共同管理したもの。古墳時代には竪穴(たてあな)住居内に貯蔵穴をつくった。東国では竈(かまど)と結び付いた「台所セット」として一時期盛行した。

［海老原郁雄］

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