Watering places are considered to have been used as ceremonial/ritual grounds in the same way as shell middens and earthwork mounds. The Kitakogane Shell Midden is the only site in Hokkaido where such a watering place was found. Here, the remains of as many as 1,300 ceremoniously buried cooking tools, such as milling basins and grinding stones, were also found.

photo courtesy: Date City Board of Education