The Bullroarer Atlas

EA-ENDOHIROYA-HERA-001 - archaeological find

Endo Hiroya site large hera-shaped pendant

Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan; Endo Hiroya site - East Asia

Function not recorded Candidate only

Endō Hiroya site large hera-shaped pendants, views with sections — ヘラ状垂飾
Endō Hiroya site large hera-shaped pendants, views with sections — ヘラ状垂飾 Image source

ヘラ状垂飾 Japanese

Source term: ヘラ状垂飾; hera-shaped pendant; spatula-shaped pendant

ヘラ状垂飾 (hera-jō suishoku): 'spatula-shaped pendant'

A palm-length blade of green serpentinite, pierced once at the top — and worn, on both faces, in a matching slant nearly 45 degrees off the hole. That doubled oblique groove is the whole puzzle: a cord that dragged hard and at an angle, as if the thing hung heavy or turned. Five such large blades cluster in Early Jōmon Kanagawa and Gunma; this one lay in a pit at the Endō Hiroya settlement some 6,000 years ago. Catalogued as a body ornament, it is mute on whether it was ever swung — no rite survives to say.

Object
ヘラ状垂飾; hera-shaped pendant; spatula-shaped pendant. Specimens/count: one large serpentinite example; HeritageMap also records a pit-excavated Early-late hera pendant. Material: serpentinite. Dimensions: over 10 cm class; exact dimensions need original report. Perforation: upper perforation; near-45-degree oblique wear on both faces around perforation. Context: from pit; site is an excavated settlement with Early Jomon furnace pits, pit dwellings, pits, and good Moroiso a-b pottery. Date: late Early Jōmon, Moroiso a–b phase, ~6000–5600 cal BP.
Function
Published as a pit-excavated hera-shaped pendant of the later Early Jōmon; part of the five-object Kanto/Gunma cluster the atlas tracks for its anomalous bilateral wear.
Map confidence
low_medium - Approximate locality or municipality/site-cluster anchor from the local dossier; refine before public release.
Source location
Kanagawa 2024 lecture PDF Fig. 2; HeritageMap pit-context route

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