日時 2015年11月26（木）9:00–12:00
内容 縄文土器制作のための土の採掘と地質の話
場所 上野山小学校 楽元の森（仙台市太白区上野山1-20-1）
対象 小学5年生 74名
講師 池田匡優、若生克雄
仙台市立上野山小学校の敷地内にある粘土質の土を利用して何かできないかとの相談を校長先生から受けました。
試しにその土を焼いてみたところ、魅力的な赤色の焼き物になりました。そして更に調べてみると、小学校の周辺の名取川流域には多数の縄文遺跡が点在し、縄文土器や土偶などの遺物が出土していることも分かってきました。縄文人も同じ土を使って縄文土器をつくっていたかもしれないという仮説に基づき、自分達の学校で採掘した縄文の土を使って縄文土器づくりを行なうワークショップを行うことにしました。
雨天の中、テントを張ってのワークショップとなりました。まずは、土の採掘からスタートです。表層の黒土を30センチほど取り除いた下にある、黄土色の土が今回のターゲットです。土を掘り、バケツに入れてフルイ作業のテントまで運びます。中にはフルイが初めてという子もいて、一見地味な作業なのですが、大はしゃぎで進行していきます。そして、採掘時間終了となっても、「もっと続けたい！」との声があちらこちらから聞こえてきました。
休憩後は、たった今採掘したばかりの土について、地学団体研究会の若生先生にお話を伺いました。採掘した土は、約7～8万年前に釜房ダムの北西にある火山から飛んできた軽石で、上野山小学校の周辺地域には1メートル以上堆積しているのだそうです。こども達が採掘した土の地質学的側面と、上野山小学校周辺に多数の縄文遺跡が点在しているという考古学的側面から、縄文人も同じ土で縄文土器づくりをしていた可能性も大いにありそうです。
次回は年度をまたぎ、6年生に進級したこども達と共に、自分達が採掘した縄文の土を使っての縄文土器づくりです。
Jomon Series Making Soil for Jomon Ware
Date: Thursday, November 26, 2015 9:00–12:00
Contents: Excavation of soil to be used for making ancient Japanese pottery and conversations about geology
Venue: Kaminoyama elementary school, 1-20-1, Kaminoyama, Taihaku-ku, Sendai, Miyagi
Target: Students in fifth grade, 74 students
Instructors: Masayuki Ikeda, Katsuo Wako
We were asked by the principal of the school if it was possible to design a workshop using the clay that could be taken from Rakugen-no-Mori, a forest located on the same premises as the Kaminoyama Elementary School in Sendai where kids experience and learn about nature. When we did a trial firing of the clay taken there, the resulting pottery came out in a fascinating red tone. We also found out that not far from the elementary school, in the Natori river area, a large number of ruins from the Jomon period exist and that pottery and clay figures from that time are being discovered. Based on the premise that maybe the people from the Jomon period used the same clay to create their pottery, this workshop’s goal over the next two years is the making of Jomon ware using clay taken from the children’s own school.
Conditions were unfortunate with constant rain that had started a couple of days prior, but the soil at the excavation spot stayed dry thanks to a sheet covering it. "Unless something drastic happens, let’s hold the event!" This statement from the principal pushed us forward, so we proceeded to set up a tent over the children’s workspace and held the event under a rainy sky.
The workshop started with the collection of soil. The ocher soil we were looking for lies roughly 30 cm deep under the surface black soil. The children diligently dug up the soil, filled it into buckets and carried it to the straining tent. For some of the kids, it was a first time experience. Upon first sight, it was not an entertaining work, but they made quick progress under great excitement. When the time was over, the kids proclaimed, "We want to dig more!"
After a break, we listened to what Mr. Wako from the Association for the Geological Collaboration in Japan had to say about the soil the children had just dug up. Apparently, the soil came flying over from a volcano northwest of the Kamafusa Dam as volcanic foam some 70,000 or 80,000 years ago. According to Mr. Wako, it has accumulated to over one meter in the area around Kaminoyama Elementary School. From the geological perspective of the soil the children dug up and the archeological perspective of remains of the Jomon period that exist in great numbers in the vicinity of the School, it could be concluded that, most likely, the people from the Jomon period used the same soil to create their pottery.
With the workshop stretching over multiple years, the children will have entered their sixth year of elementary school by the time the next edition is held.
