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Nashikubo site is one of the earliest discovered prehistoric sites, first known to the Japanese academic community in 1901. It is a village site that dates to the Early, Middle, and Late Jomon Periods (c. 5,000?1,700 BC) and its peak was during the Middle Jomon Period (c. 3,500?2,500 BC). This site was designated a National Historic Site in 1984. This site is one of the closest sites to nearby obsidian mines. The beads excavated from this site indicate that Nashikubo was a hub for the surrounding widespread area. The raw materials for the beads include jade and amber, and each provenance is at coastal areas far from the site. The only jade producing area in the Japanese archipelago is the Itoigawa and Himegawa river valley in Niigata Prefecture, on the Japan Sea coast. The amber producing areas are very limited in the Japanese archipelago, located in Ibaragi and Iwate Prefecture on the Pacific Sea coast.