|
Among various archeological monuments in the
territory of Japan and the Russian Far East there is a special category of
settlements possessing attributes of natural and/or artificial fortification.
Japanese researchers use the term "Chasi" for the given type of site
identification. This is an Ainu word designating a fortress, or fortified area.
At this time there are more than 500 Chasi identified in the northern part of
the Japanese archipelago, some of them have been studied by means of
archeological excavations. About 20 sites of the Chasi type were found on
Sakhalin. Until recently, Chasi sites were known only from literary and
cartographical sources on the Kurile Islands.
As a result of archeological field surveys that
were carried out on Kunashir Island in 2001-2003 by the authors of this paper,
11 archaeological sites with attributes of both natural and artificial
fortification were discovered, and 8 of them were identified as Chasi, as
mentioned in Russian and Japanese written sources of the 18-20th centuries. All
settlements are located along the seacoast. Six sites were discovered on the northwest
(Okhotsk) coast of Kunashir, and 5 on the southeast (Pacific) coast. It is
obvious, that ancient inhabitants of the sites aspired to use to the full
extent of topographical features of relief of the island. They used abrupt
slopes, high steep coast, and narrow ridged spurs as natural factors of
protection for the settlements. As a rule, they were supplemented with
artificial elements of fortification, such as moats and (less often) earth
mounds.
The wide variability of the “Chasi” type of
sites, along with their low level of scrutiny, suggests the probability of
different cultural and chronological associations, as well as various purposes.
The few archaeological artifacts collected from pit testing of some of the
Chasi sites on Kunashir correspond to the final stage of the Okhotsk Culture,
and the early period of Ainu cultures (10-13th centuries AD).
|
