Editing Kamakura (section)

=== Early history ===
The earliest traces of human settlements in the area date back at least 10,000 years. [[Obsidian]] and stone tools found at excavation sites near {{ill|Jōraku-ji|ja|常楽寺 (鎌倉市)}} were dated to the [[Old Stone Age]] (between 100,000 and 10,000 years ago). During the [[Jōmon period]], the sea level was higher than now and all the flat land in Kamakura up to Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū and, further east, up to Yokohama's Totsuka-ku and Sakae-ku was under water. Thus, the oldest pottery fragments found come from hillside settlements of the period between 7500 BC and 5000 BC. In the late Jōmon period the sea receded and civilization progressed. During the [[Yayoi period]] (300 BC–300 AD), the sea receded further almost to today's coastline, and the economy shifted radically from hunting and fishing to farming.<ref name="KHHS">[http://www.kcn-net.org/e_kama_history/history/history1.htm Kamakura: History and the Historic Sites – Through the Heian Period], the Kamakura Citizen Net, retrieved on April 27, 2008</ref>

The Azuma Kagami describes pre-shogunate Kamakura as a remote, forlorn place, but there is reason to believe its writers simply wanted to give the impression that prosperity had been brought there by the new regime.<ref name="takahashi8">Takahashi (2005:8–10)</ref> To the contrary, it is known that by the [[Nara period]] (about 700 AD) there were both temples and shrines. [[Sugimoto-dera]] for example was built during this period and is therefore one of the city's oldest temples.<ref name="KHHS" /> The town was also the seat of area government offices and the point of convergence of several land and marine routes. It seems therefore only natural that it should have been a city of a certain importance, likely to attract Yoritomo's attention.<ref name="takahashi8" />