The San'in region has numerous Paleolithic and Jōmon period (14,000 - 300 BC) remains, but its Yayoi period (300 BC - 250 AD) remains are the largest in Japan. The Mukibanda Yayoi remains in the low foothills of Mount Daisen in the cities of Daisen and Yonago, Tottori Prefecture are the largest in Japan. The site is still only partially excavated, but indicates that the San'in was a regional center of power in the period. The mythology of the Shinto religion is largely based in the Izumo area of the region, and the Izumo-taisha, or Izumo Grand Shrine in Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, is one of the most ancient and important Shinto shrines in Japan. The eastern part of Shimane Prefecture also had cultural and economic connections to the Asian mainland from an early period.