| Lake Nojiri 野尻湖 |
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|---|---|
| Lake and Mt. Kurohime | |
| Location | Shinano, Kamiminochi District, Nagano Prefecture |
| Basin countries | Japan |
| Surface area | 4.56 km² |
| Average depth | 21 m |
| Max. depth | 38.5 m |
| Water volume | 0.096 m³ |
| Shore length1 | 16 km |
| Surface elevation | 657 m |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Lake Nojiri (野尻湖 Nojiri-ko) is in the town of Shinano, Kamiminochi District, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Second to Lake Suwa among lakes in Nagano Prefecture, Nojiri is a resort, the location of the first pumped-storage hydroelectricity in Japan, and the site of a paleolithic excavation.
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The lake rarely freezes over in the winter. "Dome boats," outfitted with stoves, catch smelt (Hypomesus nipponensis) in Lake Nojiri.
In 1946, a tusk of Palaeoloxodon naumanni (named in honor of the O-yatoi gaikokujin Heinrich Edmund Naumann, 1854–1927) was discovered accidentally. In 1962, excavations began at the edge and on the bottom of the lake. The location was a promontory, on the western shore, known as Tategahana. Discoveries included implements of stone and bone, fossils of Palaeoloxodon naumanni, and of deer. Analyses of diatoms, pollen, paleomagnetism, and volcanic ash place the site, with its fossils of humans and megafauna, in the Paleolithic, the Pleistocene, about 40,000 years ago. Kondo et al. conclude that Tategahana is a "kill-butchering site." [1]