To assess the production and distribution of Yayoi pottery in the Saijo Basin, we conducted sand grain and isotope analyses of pottery and soil. The former was performed using the following materials: six pieces of Late Yayoi period pottery excavated from the Kagaminishitani (KN) site, four from the Yamanakaikeminami 2 (YM2) site, 10 soil samples from the Saijo Basin, four from the KN site, and three from the YM2 site.
The analyses revealed that the main composition of the Saijo Basin soil is quartz mineral and granite rock fragments, most contain mica, and NO.5 (HH-S-05) is prominent. Pottery from the KN site contains a lot of quartz and granite, and almost no tuff. The grain size composition of the clay of the Saijo group pottery (KN-P-05-07) is mainly composed of coarse- and medium-grained sand. Southern Bingo group pottery (KN-P-01-02) has a high ratio of ultra-fine sand. The soil from the KN site contains a lot of mica, but it contains almost no earthenware. The pottery from the YM2 site contains almost no mica or tuff, while the soil contains small amounts, which is different from earthenware. The characteristics are also different from the soil from KN.
Strontium (Sr)-Neodymium (Nd)-Lead (Pb) isotope analysis of two soil samples indicated that the isotope ratio of the Saijo Basin was different from that of the Takamatsu Plain and Mt. Hiei. If the isotope ratio of the soil, which has characteristics similar to those of YM2 pottery, matches, this will provide strong evidence of the production area. The pottery from KN also has different compositions between the Saijo and southern Bingo groups, so it is possible that the results of isotope analysis will prove that the production areas are different.
Increasing the number of samples and considering the results of isotope analysis are future tasks. The fact that we were able to determine the characteristics of the soil of the Saijo Basin and the rock and mineral composition and grain size of the excavated Yayoi pottery is a great achievement.