弥生時代後期(約2,000年前）から古墳時代前期（4世紀ごろ）の大規模な集落遺跡。発掘調査によって大小2つの溝（環濠（かんごう））や多量の住居跡、生活の痕跡を示す土器や、当時のお墓などの貴重な資料が数多く見つかり、国の史跡に指定されました。
　弥生時代には環濠の内側に住居が営まれ、高床式倉庫では穀物などを貯蔵していたと考えられています。古墳時代には環濠は既に埋められていたようですが、引き続き住居が作られ、大規模集落として存続していたと考えられます。集落のはずれには箱式石棺（はこしきせっかん）（板状の石を箱形に組み合わせた棺）や木棺墓（もっかんぼ）が見つかり、中国製の鏡や鉄刀、玉類が副葬されていました。

　現在、史跡の東側に覆屋を設置し、「野方遺跡住居跡展示館」として、弥生時代と古墳時代の住居跡を発掘当時のまま展示しています。

【開館時間】 9：00～17：00（入館は16：30まで）
【休館日】 月曜日（祝休日のときは翌平日）、年末年始（12月29日～１月３日）
【入館料】無料

This is a large settlement site from the late Yayoi period (about 2,000 years ago) to the early Kofun period (around the 4th century). Excavations uncovered two large and small ditches (moats/encircling ditches), numerous dwelling remains, pottery and other traces of daily life, as well as burials and many other valuable materials; the site has been designated a National Historic Site.

In the Yayoi period, houses stood inside the encircling ditch, and it is thought that raised-floor granaries were used to store grain and the like. By the Kofun period the ditch appears to have been filled in, but dwellings continued to be built and the settlement is believed to have persisted as a large community. At the settlement’s edge, box-shaped stone coffins (constructed by assembling slab stones) and wooden-coffin graves have been found, with Chinese-made mirrors, iron swords, and beads interred as grave goods.

Today, a shelter has been erected on the east side of the Historic Site, and as the “Nokata Site Dwelling Remains Exhibition Hall” the dwelling remains from the Yayoi and Kofun periods are displayed just as they were at the time of excavation.

Opening hours: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (last entry: 4:30 p.m.)
Closed: Mondays (if Monday is a holiday, the following weekday), year-end/New Year holidays (Dec 29–Jan 3)
Admission: Free