Jomon Longhouse

Sannai Maruyama Site
Aomori, Japan

This is a view of the interior of the reconstructed longhouse that is shown on the previous page. Note the stairs descending from the right; this is a pit building, whose slightly-below-ground foundation is common to most neolithic buildings in most continents of the world. The reason is that below-soil foundations, even just a yard or so down, are more stable.