Image Description: Excavated in 1981 to 1982, the Sakushu-Kotoni River site, located on the Hokkaido University campus in Sapporo, Japan, has been an important site for the paleoethnobotanical record of prehistoric Japan. Dr. Gary Crawford (University of Toronto, Mississauga) has written extensively on the findings of this site. Still, up to this day, some materials from these excavations in the 80s are still being examined, such as the sample the specimens in this photo came from. The sample these seeds were found in was collected from a midden context in grid 17-11-23 during the Sakushu-Kotoni-River site excavation. Specifically, the context of the sample was recorded as “Charcoal Ichimound” (炭イチマウンド), understood as “Charcoal Mound 1”. This and other floatation samples collected during the Sakushu-Kotoni-River project were floated using the bucket method but screened through fine gauze rather than geological sieves and housed at the University of Toronto Mississauga Paleobotany Lab. 

Why did you conduct this research? Recent excavations in the Sapporo region have uncovered interesting findings. One such finding is a single millet seed found at the N434 site in Epi-Jomon context. This is before millet is believed to have reached (or at least been extensively used) in Hokkaido. Because it is only one seed, it may be the result of contamination. I will examine the remaining samples from the N434 to rule out the possibility of millet in the Epi-Jomon. I examined the SKT remains to familiarize myself with the materials that I can generally expect to find when looking at the N434 site remains.

Technique: Examination, identification and photography was conducted using a Nikon SMZ1000 4x to 480x stereomicroscope. Photographs were edited in Photoshop Elements to remove background impurities and highlight specimens. 

Acknowledgements: Professor Gary Crawford