Yoshinogari Keitai-Guide
These are where the people of the Yoshinogari settlement lived. A hole was dug one meter deep, and a residence called a pit-dwelling was created by covering this with a roof. Pit dwellings were used as living quarters all over Japan from the Jomon period, which preceded the Yayoi period. Being semi-subterranean structures, they were not much affected by the external temperature, and so they were probably very comfortable places to live: cool in summer and warm in winter. It is thought that these pit dwellings in the Southern Inner Enclosure were the homes of high-ranking people and members of the governing class. However, there was not a big difference between these structures and the homes of the common people. In those days it is thought the roof was important at that time because it showed the status of the residence, and wickerwork on the roof ridge denotes high status.
(C)YOSHINOGARI HISTORICAL PARK