South Kanto has offered the standard strata for studying the chronology of the late Quaternary in Japan. Recent years, many preceramic sites have been excavated, among which the Nogawa site and the Tsukimino sites were most intensively researched because of their abundant bearing of stone implements and of their clear stratigraphical backgrounds. The information obtained from these sites has gradually made clear the typological sequences in preceramic history in South Kanto.
In the present study, three methods of chronology which are independent in regard to their disciplines, that is, tephrochronology, radiocarbon dating and obsidian dating, have been applied to the stratigraphic comparison of the Tachikawa Loam both in the Sagamino terrace and in the Musashino terrace.
Results obtained from the three methods mentioned above coincide with each other within the existing errors, and give the basis for the future study as shown in Fig. 7.