Sendai City Tomizawa Site Museum

The Sendai City Tomizawa Site Museum is an archaeology museum in Taihaku-ku, Sendai, Japan, dedicated to the in situ preservation and exhibition of a fossilized forest and paleolithic human habitation site. The remains date back 20,000 years and were discovered during surveying work in 1988. The institution, also known as Chitei no mori myujiamu (Underground Forest Museum), opened on 2 November 1996 to protect and showcase these archaeological finds, offering the public direct access to an ancient campsite and its surrounding environment.

In 1988, surveys were being conducted on land designated for the proposed Nagamachi Elementary School. During this prospection, workers discovered the 20,000-year-old remains of a forest and paleolithic settlement traces. Authorities decided to preserve the site and make it accessible to the public, reallocating the school plans to another location. Following five years of conceptualization, construction of the museum building began in June 1994. After two years of construction, the museum officially opened on 2 November 1996.

The museum's scope centers on the preservation and interpretation of the Tomizawa Site, focusing on paleolithic human habitation and the ice age environment of 20,000 years ago. The institution exhibits the ancient campsite remains alongside the flora of the ice age displayed across the grounds. In addition to the preserved geological and botanical features, the collection includes paleolithic artifacts such as stone tools, hammerstones, and knives. The museum also functions as an educational facility, offering interactive learning spaces where visitors can engage in activities such as making stone implements and learning basic archaeological procedures.

The most significant holding of the museum is the fossilized forest and campsite remains preserved in the basement. Artifacts from the paleolithic campsite include small pieces of coalified material from an ancient campfire and hundreds of discarded stone implements. These remains had been kept intact by ground water prior to their excavation and museum preservation. The fossilized trees themselves, dating back 20,000 years, represent the centerpiece of the underground forest exhibition.

The museum is built on a 14,263-square-meter site that includes the preserved forest remains and representations of ice age flora. The structure itself is a reinforced concrete building with two floors, an upper level and a basement, totaling 2,743 square meters in area. Eighty percent of the building's total area is dedicated to exhibition space, with the remaining twenty percent used for classrooms and interactive events. To protect the fragile underground remains, the exterior walls of the basement are 80 centimeters thick and extend 20 meters deep into the earth to prevent the intrusion of ground water. The basement exhibition room, which lacks a conventional floor to expose the site, features a high ovular ceiling supported without vertical beams, ensuring an unobstructed view of the fossilized forest. A wall projection in this room displays an interpretation of how the area is theorized to have appeared 20,000 years ago.

The Sendai City Tomizawa Site Museum is located at 3-1 Nagamachi-minami 4-chome, Taihaku-ku, Sendai 982-0012, Japan. It operates on the grounds of the Tomizawa archaeological excavation site, serving as a public institution dedicated to the ongoing preservation and educational presentation of the paleolithic remains discovered there.