Tana-Mukaigahara Neolithic Museum — Attraction in Sagamihara

This is a very nice museum, where they’ve meticulously documented the painstakingly precise excavation of a pre-historic Jomon period camp or small village at this site, as well as others in the vicinity. It would’ve been helpful to have more to read in English, but honestly the translations provided by my phone’s translation app were very clear, so no problem there, and the graphics and dioramas are largely self-explanatory. I was the only patron there at 4:30pm on a sunny Sunday afternoon, so no concern about crowds, or parking. I walked over from the nearest train station (~30 min), but for drivers it looked like there is plenty of parking available. One last thing: Admission is FREE! Can’t beat that price. Anyway, if you like history/archaeology then...

The Paleolithic period was characterized by chipped stone tools, while the Neolithic period was characterized by ground stone tools. In Japan, the Neolithic period is called the Jomon period. It is often thought that agricultural culture began in the Yayoi period, but there is evidence that ground stone tools were used for farming, and the Jomon people were also farmers. The Jomon period is the longest period in the world, lasting for 16,000 years alone. If you add in the Paleolithic period that preceded it, it is thought to have been a peaceful period lasting 52,000 years....

We learned a lot about prehistoric Sagamihara. The museum staff kindly used simple Japanese during their explanations, which made everything easy to understand. Even on a hot day, two of them patiently waited for visitors at the outdoor site. One of them even spoke English. It was a short visit, but very...