Home Region:  Northeast Asia (East Asia)

Japan - Final Jomon

G SC WF EQ 2020  jp_jomon_6 / JpJomo6

Preceding:
2500 BCE 1200 BCE Japan - Late Jomon (jp_jomon_5)    [continuity]
Add one more here.

Succeeding:
300 BCE 250 CE Kansai - Yayoi Period (jp_yayoi)    [population replacement]
Add one more here.

No General Descriptions provided.

General Variables
Identity and Location
Utm Zone:
53 S  
Original Name:
Japan - Final Jomon  
Capital:
absent  
Temporal Bounds
Duration:
[1,200 BCE ➜ 300 BCE]  
Political and Cultural Relations
Succeeding Entity:
Kansai - Yayoi Period  
Relationship to Preceding Entity:
continuity  
Preceding Entity:
Preceding:   Japan - Late Jomon (jp_jomon_5)    [continuity]  
Succeeding: Kansai - Yayoi Period (jp_yayoi)    [population replacement]  
Degree of Centralization:
quasi-polity  
Language
Linguistic Family:
NO_VALUE_ON_WIKI  
Language:
NO_VALUE_ON_WIKI  
Religion
Social Complexity Variables
Social Scale
Population of the Largest Settlement:
[400 to 500] people  
Polity Population:
[400 to 1,000] people  
Hierarchical Complexity
Settlement Hierarchy:
[1 to 2]  
Religious Level:
1  
Professions
Professional Soldier:
absent  
Professional Priesthood:
unknown  
Professional Military Officer:
absent  
Bureaucracy Characteristics
Specialized Government Building:
absent  
Merit Promotion:
absent  
Full Time Bureaucrat:
absent  
Examination System:
absent  
Law
Professional Lawyer:
absent  
Judge:
absent  
Formal Legal Code:
absent  
Court:
absent  
Specialized Buildings: polity owned
Irrigation System:
inferred absent  
Food Storage Site:
inferred absent  
Transport Infrastructure
Road:
inferred absent  
Special-purpose Sites
Mines or Quarry:
present  
Information / Writing System
Written Record:
absent  
Script:
absent  
Phonetic Alphabetic Writing:
absent  
Information / Kinds of Written Documents
Scientific Literature:
absent  
Sacred Text:
absent  
Religious Literature:
absent  
Practical Literature:
absent  
Philosophy:
absent  
Lists Tables and Classification:
absent  
History:
absent  
Fiction:
absent  
Calendar:
absent  
Information / Money
Paper Currency:
absent  
Indigenous Coin:
absent  
Information / Postal System
Postal Station:
absent  
General Postal Service:
absent  
Information / Measurement System
Warfare Variables (Military Technologies)
Fortifications
  Wooden Palisade:
absent  
  Stone Walls Non Mortared:
absent  
  Stone Walls Mortared:
absent  
  Settlements in a Defensive Position:
absent  
  Modern Fortification:
absent  
  Moat:
absent  
  Fortified Camp:
absent  
  Earth Rampart:
absent  
  Ditch:
absent  
  Complex Fortification:
absent  
  Long Wall:
absent  
Military use of Metals
  Steel:
absent  
  Iron:
absent  
  Copper:
unknown  
  Bronze:
unknown  
Projectiles
  Tension Siege Engine:
absent  
  Sling Siege Engine:
absent  
  Sling:
absent  
  Self Bow:
inferred present  
  Javelin:
unknown  
  Handheld Firearm:
absent  
  Gunpowder Siege Artillery:
absent  
  Crossbow:
absent  
  Composite Bow:
absent  
  Atlatl:
absent  
Handheld weapons
  War Club:
absent  
  Sword:
unknown  
  Spear:
absent  
  Polearm:
absent  
  Dagger:
unknown  
  Battle Axe:
absent  
Animals used in warfare
  Horse:
absent  
  Elephant:
absent  
  Donkey:
absent  
  Dog:
absent  
  Camel:
absent  
Armor
  Wood Bark Etc:
absent  
  Shield:
absent  
  Scaled Armor:
absent  
  Plate Armor:
absent  
  Limb Protection:
absent  
  Leather Cloth:
absent  
  Laminar Armor:
absent  
  Helmet:
absent  
  Chainmail:
absent  
  Breastplate:
absent  
Naval technology
  Specialized Military Vessel:
absent  
  Small Vessels Canoes Etc:
inferred present  
  Merchant Ships Pressed Into Service:
absent  
Religion Tolerance Nothing coded yet.
Human Sacrifice Nothing coded yet.
Crisis Consequences Nothing coded yet.
Power Transitions Nothing coded yet.

NGA Settlements:

Year Range Japan - Final Jomon (jp_jomon_6) was in:
 (1200 BCE 301 BCE)   Kansai
Home NGA: Kansai

General Variables
Identity and Location
Utm Zone:
53 S

Original Name:
Japan - Final Jomon

"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)


Capital:
absent

Kidder, Jr. [1] lists Jomon communities among "various groups [that] existed on the Japanese islands before one particularly powerful clan initiated a centralization process that led to the formation of the Yamato kingdom." This suggests that there was no capital.

[1]: (Kidder, Jr. 2008, 48)


Temporal Bounds
Duration:
[1,200 BCE ➜ 300 BCE]

Political and Cultural Relations
Succeeding Entity:
Kansai - Yayoi Period

Relationship to Preceding Entity:
continuity

Preceding Entity:
Japan - Late Jomon [jp_jomon_5] ---> Japan - Final Jomon [jp_jomon_6]
Preceding Entity:
Japan - Final Jomon [jp_jomon_6] ---> Kansai - Yayoi Period [jp_yayoi]

"Dental evidence links Jomon to the living Ainu and Yayoi and Kofun period skeletons to the recent population of Japan." [1]

[1]: (Scott and Turner 2000) Scott, Richard G. Turner, Christy G. 2000. The Anthropology of Modern Human Teeth: Dental Morphology and Its Variation in Recent Human Populations. Cambridge University Press.


Degree of Centralization:
quasi-polity

Kidder, Jr. [1] lists Jomon communities among "various groups [that] existed on the Japanese islands before one particularly powerful clan initiated a centralization process that led to the formation of the Yamato kingdom."

[1]: (Kidder, Jr. 2008, 48)


Language
Linguistic Family:
NO_VALUE_ON_WIKI

Language:
NO_VALUE_ON_WIKI

It seems most likely that the Jomon people spoke a language similar to Ainu [1] .

[1]: (Hudson 1999, 83-102)


Religion

Social Complexity Variables
Social Scale
Population of the Largest Settlement:
[400 to 500] people

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.


Polity Population:
[400 to 1,000] people

People. Minimum is the population of a large village; maximum assuming that half of the polity population was in the central village.
75,800 [1] estimate for entire region

[1]: (Habu 2004, 46-50)


Hierarchical Complexity
Settlement Hierarchy:
[1 to 2]

levels. Inferred from previous quasi-polities. [1]

[1]: • (Barnes 2015: 131) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/T5SRVKXV.


Religious Level:
1

levels.
Earliest evidence for the existence of ritual specialists dates to the Late Jomon.


Professions
Professional Soldier:
absent

Full-time specialists


Professional Priesthood:
unknown

Full-time specialists


Professional Military Officer:
absent

Full-time specialists


Bureaucracy Characteristics
Specialized Government Building:
absent

The earliest evidence for a “bureaucratic machinery” appears to date to the late fifth century CE [1] .

[1]: (Steenstrup 2011, 11)


Merit Promotion:
absent

The earliest evidence for a “bureaucratic machinery” appears to date to the late fifth century CE [1] .

[1]: (Steenstrup 2011, 11)


Full Time Bureaucrat:
absent

The earliest evidence for a “bureaucratic machinery” appears to date to the late fifth century CE [1] .

[1]: (Steenstrup 2011, 11)


Examination System:
absent

The earliest evidence for a “bureaucratic machinery” appears to date to the late fifth century CE [1] .

[1]: (Steenstrup 2011, 11)


Law
Professional Lawyer:
absent

Judge:
absent

Formal Legal Code:
absent

Inferred from the fact that writing was only introduced in Japan in the fifth century CE [1] .

[1]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11)


Court:
absent

Specialized Buildings: polity owned
Irrigation System:
absent

"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)


Food Storage Site:
absent

Generally speaking, the Jomon stored food in pits that were part of residential sites, not at different sites altogether [1] .

[1]: (Habu 2004, 64-70)


Transport Infrastructure
Road:
absent

Inferred from the fact that roads are nor mentioned by a number of sources providing comprehensive overviews of Jomon life (e.g. [1] [2] )--even in chapters dedicated to trade and exchange, only water transport is discussed [3] .

[1]: (Habu 2004)

[2]: (Kobayashi 2004)

[3]: (Habu 2004, 236)


Special-purpose Sites
Mines or Quarry:
present

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)


Information / Writing System
Written Record:
absent

“To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche.” [1]

[1]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11)


Script:
absent

“To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche.” [1]

[1]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11)


Phonetic Alphabetic Writing:
absent

“To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche.” [1]

[1]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11)


Information / Kinds of Written Documents
Scientific Literature:
absent

“To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche.” [1]

[1]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11)


Sacred Text:
absent

“To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche.” [1]

[1]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11)


Religious Literature:
absent

“To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche.” [1]

[1]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11)


Practical Literature:
absent

“To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche.” [1]

[1]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11)


Philosophy:
absent

“To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche.” [1]

[1]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11)


Lists Tables and Classification:
absent

“To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche.” [1]

[1]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11)


History:
absent

“To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche.” [1]

[1]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11)


Fiction:
absent

“To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche.” [1]

[1]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11)


Calendar:
absent

“To all appearances, writing as such, in the form of Chinese Classics, was introduced into Japan early in the fifth century as part of the great cultural influx from Paekche.” [1]

[1]: (Frellesvig 2010, 11)


Information / Money
Paper Currency:
absent

Paper currency first introduced in the 1600s [1] .

[1]: (Snodgrass 2003, 254)


Indigenous Coin:
absent

“Japan retained a barter system until the AD 600s [...]. Inspired by circulation of Chinese cash coppers, the island nation first produced extensive coinage after AD 708, when the Empress Genmyo turned new strikes of copper ore into coins.” [1]

[1]: (Snodgrass 2003, 253)


Information / Postal System
Postal Station:
absent

General Postal Service:
absent

Information / Measurement System

Warfare Variables (Military Technologies)
Fortifications
Wooden Palisade:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Stone Walls Non Mortared:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Stone Walls Mortared:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Settlements in a Defensive Position:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Modern Fortification:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Moat:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Fortified Camp:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Earth Rampart:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Ditch:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Complex Fortification:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Long Wall:
absent

Military use of Metals
Steel:
absent

Metalworking began in the Yayoi period [1] .

[1]: (Mizoguchi 2013, 140)


Iron:
absent

Metalworking began in the Yayoi period [1] .

[1]: (Mizoguchi 2013, 140)


Copper:
unknown

Metalworking began in the Yayoi period [1] [2]

[1]: (Mizoguchi 2013, 140)

[2]: Pearson, Richard., ‘Debating Jomon Social Complexity’, Asian Perspectives: Journal of Archeology for Asia & the Pacific, Volume 46, Number 2 (Fall), 2007, pp. 360


Bronze:
unknown

Metalworking began in the Yayoi period [1] [2]

[1]: (Mizoguchi 2013, 140)

[2]: Pearson, Richard., ‘Debating Jomon Social Complexity’, Asian Perspectives: Journal of Archeology for Asia & the Pacific, Volume 46, Number 2 (Fall), 2007, pp. 360


Projectiles
Tension Siege Engine:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Sling Siege Engine:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Sling:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Self Bow:
present

1m long bows with poison tipped arrows have been found for this polity, which could kill anything up to about 50 kg in weight, including people. [1] Making bows that would fit with the highly regularized 10,000-year-long Jomon archery tradition would have required the use of staves that were carefully harvested from plants nurtured during growth [2]

[1]: J. Edward Kidder, Jr., ‘The earliest societies in Japan’, in Delmer M. Brown The Cambridge History of Japan, Cambrudge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, pp. 73-74

[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


Javelin:
unknown

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Handheld Firearm:
absent

Gunpowder was introduced in Japan in 1543 [1] .

[1]: (Maruyama 2000, 22)


Gunpowder Siege Artillery:
absent

Gunpowder was introduced in Japan in 1543 [1] .

[1]: (Maruyama 2000, 22)


Crossbow:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Composite Bow:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Atlatl:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Handheld weapons
War Club:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Sword:
unknown

Pearson suggests: ‘There is hard archaeological evidence that continental people visited Jomon communities. At the Itoku site in Kochi Prefecture in southern Shikoku, both human and animal bones with modifications caused by metal tools were found in a deposit dating to 3200-2800 B.P. (Maruyama et al. 2004). The modifications appear to have been made by metal swords or knives and are consistent with violent conflict (Matsui 2005).’ [1]

[1]: Pearson, Richard., ‘Debating Jomon Social Complexity’, Asian Perspectives: Journal of Archeology for Asia & the Pacific, Volume 46, Number 2 (Fall), 2007, pp. 360


Spear:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Polearm:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Dagger:
unknown

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful. [1] [2]

[1]: (Mizoguchi 2013, 140)

[2]: Pearson, Richard., ‘Debating Jomon Social Complexity’, Asian Perspectives: Journal of Archeology for Asia & the Pacific, Volume 46, Number 2 (Fall), 2007, pp. 360


Battle Axe:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Animals used in warfare
Horse:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Elephant:
absent

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.


Donkey:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Dog:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Camel:
absent

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.


Armor
Wood Bark Etc:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Shield:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Scaled Armor:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Plate Armor:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Limb Protection:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Leather Cloth:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Laminar Armor:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Helmet:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Chainmail:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Breastplate:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Naval technology
Specialized Military Vessel:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.


Small Vessels Canoes Etc:
present

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful. [1]

[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. 360


Merchant Ships Pressed Into Service:
absent

No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.



Human Sacrifice Data
Human Sacrifice is the deliberate and ritualized killing of a person to please or placate supernatural entities (including gods, spirits, and ancestors) or gain other supernatural benefits.
- Nothing coded yet.
- Nothing coded yet.
Power Transitions
- Nothing coded yet.