 縄文時代中期の竪穴住居 (狭山遺跡検出。中央の石囲いは炉。 周囲の円形の溝は土止のため板を設置。 小さな穴は柱を差し込んだ穴｡) Pit dwelling of the middle Jomon period (discovered at the Sayama site. A furnace is at the center of the stone enclosure. The surrounding circular groove was fitted with boards for earth-retaining purposes. The small holes were for inserting pillars.) | |
 縄文土器 (狭山遺跡出土) Jomon (code or straw-rope patterned) pottery (excavated from the Sayama prehistoric site) | |
| 氷河期が終わり、気候が温暖になり、針葉樹は広葉樹にとってかわった。これにともない大型草食獣は姿を消し、森に適したシカやイノシシなどの小型草食獣に取って代わった。こうした環境の変化に対し、縄文人は狩猟にはより速射性の高い弓矢を発明し、動きの素早い小型草食獣に対応した。また煮炊具として土器を使用するようになり、広葉樹に実る果実を採集し、土器で煮てあく抜きをして食用とした。こうした豊富な森林資源を背景に､森の中に集落を作って狩猟・採集を中心とする定住生活を行うようになった。 | With the end of the ice age and advent of warmer conditions, coniferous forests gave way to broad-leafed trees. At the same time, the large grazing animals disappeared, and were replaced by small herbivores better suited to the new forest cover, such as deer and wild boars. Adjusting to these new conditions, the Jomon people invented a faster-firing hunting bow and arrow more suitable for hunting these fast-moving, small herbivores. Also, they began using earthenware to cook food such as broad-leaf tree fruit, which after harvesting was made palatable by being boiled in these vessels to remove any bitterness. Surrounded by abundant forest resources, these hunter-gatherer people took up a settled life centered around villages in forest clearings [in the woods/forest]. |
| 瑞穂町では、狭山池東岸の狭山遺跡で竪穴住居が発見され、縄文時代中期集落の存在が明らかとなった。また、狭山丘陵中腹の六道山遺跡では、石鏃を初めとする多数の石器と、狩猟用の陥穴が発見されている。 | In Mizuho, pit dwellings were found in the Sayama site on the east bank of Sayama Pond, and there is evidence of settlements from the middle Jomon period. In addition, at the Rokudo site in the middle Sayama Hill, a large number of stone tools, including flint arrowheads, and hunting pitfalls for hunting were found. |
 石鏃(狭山遺跡出土) Flint arrowheads (excavated from the Sayama prehistoric site) | |
 打製石斧 (狭山遺跡出土、土掘り具として使用) Chipped stone axes (used as soil digging tools, and excavated from the Sayama site) | |