Artifact-containing layer

Japanese: 遺物包含層 - いぶつほうがんそう

An archaeological term referring to a soil layer containing artifacts. It is abbreviated as "containing layer." It is roughly equivalent to what is called the cultural layer in the West. However, one artifact-containing layer is often divided into several cultural layers of different eras. In early Japanese archaeology, there was little awareness of prehistoric ruins other than shell mounds, and it was thought that artifacts remained on the surface of the ground in forests and fields. In 1894, Torii Ryuzo and Ohno Entaro discovered pottery and stone tools contained several tens of centimeters below the surface in a cut in the hills of Kokubunji, Tokyo, and were the first to realize that ruins exist not above ground but "several feet underground."

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

遺物を含む土層をさす考古学の用語。略称は包含層。欧米でいう文化層cultural layerにほぼ相当する。しかし，一つの遺物包含層が，時代を異にする幾つかの文化層に分かれることも多い。初期の日本考古学では，貝塚以外の先史時代遺跡について認識があさく，遺物は山林原野の地表面に遺存していると考えられていた。1894年，鳥居竜蔵，大野延太郎は，東京国分寺の丘の切通しで，地表下数十cmに土器，石器が包含されているのを実見し，遺跡が地上ではなく〈地下幾尺かの土中〉に存在することを初めて認識した。

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

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