"Consistent warming and a rising sea level pushed the coastal population farther inland during the Early Jomon period, with the temperature peaking several degrees higher than today toward the end of this stage. Water flooded low valleys, and some Kanto sites are as much as fifty kilometers from the present shore. [...].
"The shell mounds of this stage contain chiefly freshwater clams (Yamato shijimi or Corbicula japonica, and marine haigai or Anada granosa) and oysters (magaki or Crossostrea gigas). Animal bones - not numerous - are chiefly those of deer, boars, flying squirrels, and Siberian mountain lions. Investigations indicate that mainly older deer were hunted, that the fast-breeding wild boars were killed indiscriminately, and that mountain lions were dying out. In the more isolated areas of western Japan, animal life was reduced, leaving fewer resources for human survival. The higher temperature encouraged the growth of the evergreen oak forests (Quercus) that covered much of west Japan.
"The warmer temperature was also conducive to the growth of warm-water Anadara granosa as far north as the Daigi shell mound near Matsushima Bay, although its habitat is now south of Tokyo. On the other hand, the coldwater mollusk (Pecten yesoensis), now thriving in northeast Honshu, could not stand the warmth and is therefore missing from the Early Jomon shell mounds of that area.
"Around the middle of the Early Jomon, reliable food sources and somewhat longer stays near the coast produced a dramatic increase in population. According to Koyama’s calculations, the Early Jomon population numbered around 106,000, or five times that of the Earliest Jomon, an increase unmatched at any other stage of the Jomon period.
"Small Early Jomon villages, developed on bluffs, had pit houses grouped in the form of a horseshoe. The presence of pottery of several successive types at a single site indicates continuous habitation. As this occurred, family demands fostered advances in house construction. The older, poorer shelters or huts were now transformed by the introduction of substantial inner posts strong enough to hold a roof over a rectanguloid floor. Rainwater shed by the pitched roof was drained off through surrounding ditches. Kaya (a miscanthus) was probably the roofing grass, fifteen centimeters of which would have been enough to keep the interior dry. Toward the end of the Early Jomon, the inner space took the form of a square with rounded corners. Some fireplaces were moved inside, though rarely were placed in the middle of the floor. Indoor living now offered more attractions.
"Houses were occasionally extended to accommodate growing families, but archaeological evidence reveals few repairs and almost no overlapped houses so often found at Middle Jomon sites. The forty-eight houses of the Minabori shell mound, located on a rather level plateau in Yokohama and distributed to form a rough arc, had doors facing an open space to the north. Because successive rebuilding did not alter this fundamental plan, it is thought that use of the common area had become well established. An improving economy is suggested by storage pits found both inside and outside houses. Such pits were lined by alternating layers of leaves and nuts in order to keep most of the pit’s contents dry, allowing cupboard raids to expose only a little at a time.
"Most of the house pits of Minabori contained Kurohama-type pottery belonging to the middle years of the Early Jomon. These flat-bottomed pots were designed for cooking, and their new shapes made them more practical for indoor living on intensely used floors that were tamped hard. A short-lived spell of tempering the clay with small fibers - a practice that perhaps started in the Tohoku and moved south - may have been connected with attempts to strengthen the walls of the pots when increasing their size and experimenting with flat bottoms. Heavy cord marking is typical, and before the Early Jomon phase was over, Moroiso-type pottery appeared, bearing imprinted and incised decorative arcs and parallel lines made with the end of a small split bamboo stick.
"Recent excavations at the Torihama shell mound in Mikata-cho of Fukui Prefecture point up hitherto unknown advances in the Early Jomon. One of the rather few kitchen middens found on the west side of Japan, it lies beside the Hasu River in a laurel (laurilignosa) forest area dominated by oak. These excavations show that boars, deer, monkeys, raccoon-dogs, bear, serows, otters, martens, and badgers were hunted; several kinds of fish were caught; and a variety of freshwater shellfish, saltwater mollusks, clams, oysters, and ark shells were collected. Walnuts, hazelnuts, and acorns were also gathered. But of special interest are the bottle gourds {Lagenaria siceraria) and "green beans" (Phaseolus sp.) that were pea shaped and found in long narrow pods averaging eleven centimeters in length and thirteen beans to a pod. Many Japanese archaeologists regard both as cultivated plants, indeed suggesting that pollen changes indicate environmental alterations caused by clearing and that trees of foothill forests were cut and used for building materials, wooden tools, and firewood.
"Preserved remarkably well are ropes, reed baskets, and many wooden objects, including oars, boards, adzes, bows, and carved bowls and a comb which are the oldest pieces of lacquer ever found in Japan. Other innovations were polished stone axes, bone needles, and thimblelike bone rings. Vertically angled blades were changed to adze-shaped tools by the use of right-angled tree forks, probably for better hacking and digging of new forms of vegetation.
"Torihama is no longer an isolated case. Gourd seeds have also been found in the Early and Latest Jomon sites of Gifu and Saitama. The Middle Jomon Idojiri "bread," which has long defied analysis, is now thought to have contained some eight skins of beans. The Middle Jomon Tsurune settlement site in Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture, yielded two carbonized beans (Leguminosae) that are reportedly similar to a cultivated continental Asian bean for which there was nothing comparable in Japan."
[1]
[1]: (Kidder, Jr. 2008, 62-65)
| Japan - Middle Jomon |
| continuity |
| Succeeding: Japan - Middle Jomon (jp_jomon_4) [continuity] | |
| Preceding: Japan - Initial Jomon (jp_jomon_2) [continuity] |
| quasi-polity |
| Year Range | Japan - Early Jomon (jp_jomon_3) was in: |
|---|---|
| (5300 BCE 3501 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)
Inhabitants. Some villages could get as large as 400 to 500 people in early and middle, and later Jomon periods, and could have up to 40 or 50 houses in a settlement. [1]
[1]: (Barnes 2015: 131) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/T5SRVKXV.
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)
Obsidian mines. "In contrast, large-sized mining sites in which underground obsidian nodules were dug out by means of numerous pits emerged in the Central Highlands during the Jomon Period. The systematic digging technology is characteristic of Jomon procurement activities. Although the earliest mining pit dates back to the late phase of the Incipient Jomon, the historical process with regard to the emergence of the digging technology for the mining is still ambiguous." [1]
[1]: (Shimada 2012, 240)
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.
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.
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.