"Following the discovery of ’pre-Jomon’ pottery in Kyushu and elsewhere, Yamanouchi added an earlier stage that he called Soso-ki (the ’grass-roots’ stage). It has been adopted by some and rejected by others on the ground that the pottery is not ’Jomon’ and that the subsistence system of this phase was Paleolithic-style hunting. Some Westerners use this term, which I call Subearliest in order to distin- guish the phase from, and to show its relationship to, Earliest Jomon. Some prefer ’Incipient’.
"[...]
"By and large, the sites of this phase are rather few, and their cultural content is relatively meager. Bone fishhooks, usually not barbed, were rapidly improved along the northern coast. Arrowheads were small, used more frequently by inland hunters. Plant bulbs and starchy roots were dug with large, adzlike tools that were made of sandstone, slate, or other soft stone. Nuts and possibly seeds were pulverized with grinding stones. Hanawadai in Ibaragi Prefecture is the first recognizable Earliest Jomon community site. Five house pits lying about 10 meters apart contained two successive Hanawadai pottery subtypes, probably meaning that not more than three houses were occupied at any one time. The little bands of occupants could hardly have numbered more than ten or fifteen. One pit is not quite square, measuring 4.6 by 3.8 meters, and has twelve holes for posts. Outdoor fireplaces were used. Seemingly inconvenient bullet-shaped pots stood upright in the soft, loose surface soil. Dogs were kept around the house, the Canis familiaris japonica (small, short-haired, Spitz-like dogs) that were perhaps ancestors of the present-day Shiba.
"Most of the few human skeletons excavated from sites of this phase have been found intentionally buried among the shells, lying on their backs in flexed positions. They dramatize the severe conditions faced by the people of that day. The earliest known Jomon man was uncovered in 1949 below a shell layer in the Hirasaka shell mound in Yokohoma City. He stood rather tall for a Jomon person: about 163 centimeters. His lower left molars were worn down to the jawbone, probably caused by years of pulling leather thongs across them, and X-rays of his bones showed growth interruptions, interpreted as near-fatal spells of extreme malnutrition during childhood. The joints testify to early aging. Virtually unused wisdom teeth are partial evidence for a life expectancy of about thirty years, an estimated average through the Middle Jomon, with an increase of only one year during the next two millennia, until the adoption of rice as a dietary staple.
"[...]
"Koyama Shuzo calculated the population of the Earliest Jomon to be around 21,900. Inhabitants had moved to higher land in the valleys of the lower-central mountains and established communities to the north-east. Concentration in these areas throughout most of the Jomon period can be accounted for by a variety and abundance of plant, mammal, and sea life, where northern and southern environmental zones overlap in central Japan. With the exception of the Latest Jomon, and possibly the Middle Jomon, the Kanto sites are usually more numerous and frequently larger. Over half of the Earliest Jomon population was strung out along the banks of Kanto streams, with ready access to water supplies, for the same reason that earlier and later people - amounting to teeming millions in modern times - congregated there."
[1]
[1]: (Kidder, Jr. 2008, 60-61)
| Early Jomon |
| continuity |
| UNCLEAR: [continuity] | |
| Succeeding: Japan - Early Jomon (jp_jomon_3) [continuity] |
| quasi-polity |
| Year Range | Japan - Initial Jomon (jp_jomon_2) was in: |
|---|---|
| (9200 BCE 5301 BCE) | Kansai |
"The Japanese word Jomon literally means cord-marked, a term given to decoration applied to pottery with the impressions of twisted cords. The term was first used in the report of what is widely regarded as the first scientific archaeological excavation in Japan, at the Omori shell mounds near present-day Tokyo, written by Edward Sylvester Morse, in 1879. This term was subsequently used to refer to the archaeological period during which this pottery was used." [1]
[1]: (Kaner & Nakamura 2004, i)
levels. "Because a great number of sites and features such as large villages, pit houses, burials, and shell middens of the Jomon period have been found, many archaeologists believe the inhabitants lived there all year round. However, even with strong evidence of a stable society, there is no doubt that there was a radial development pattern of hunting camps, plant gathering camps, and fishing camps with a residential base at the center."
[1]
1. Central residential base
2. Hunting campsSmall, temporary, peripheral.
2. Gathering campsSmall, temporary, peripheral.
2. Fishing campsSmall, temporary, peripheral.
[1]: (Matsui 2001, 120)
"It is clear that cultivation did appear in the Jomon period, but it is equally clear that it remained a minor activity that did not contribute significantly to the growth of social complexity (Rowley-Conwy 2002:62). In fact, Hudson (1997) has that the of full-scale rejection agriculture was one characteristic shared by argued Jomon societies." [1] .
[1]: (Pearson 2007, 363)
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful. [1] [2]
[1]: Peter Bleed & Akira Matsui, ‘Why Didn’t Agriculture Develop in Japan? A Consideration of Jomon Ecological Style, Niche Construction, and the Origins of Domestication’, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 2010, Volume 17, Issue 4, p. 362
[2]: Peter Bleed & Akira Matsui, ‘Why Didn’t Agriculture Develop in Japan? A Consideration of Jomon Ecological Style, Niche Construction, and the Origins of Domestication’, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 2010, Volume 17, Issue 4, p. 364
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful. [1]
[1]: Habu, Junko, ‘Growth and decline in complex hunter-gatherer societies: a case study from the Jomon period Sannai Maruyama site, Japan’, Antiquity, Vol.82(317), 2008, pp. 575-577
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful. And elephants are not native to Japan or its neighbouring regions.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful. And camels are not native to Japan or its neighbouring regions.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful. [1] [2]
[1]: Kidder Jr., J. Edward, 2007. Himiko and Japan’s Elusive Kingdom of Yamatai (Honolulu: Hawaii University Press). p. 41
[2]: Peter Bleed & Akira Matsui, ‘Why Didn’t Agriculture Develop in Japan? A Consideration of Jomon Ecological Style, Niche Construction, and the Origins of Domestication’, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 2010, Volume 17, Issue 4, p. 360
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.