The question of prehistoric plant husbandry during the Jomon period in Japan

Authors: Matsui, Akira¹; Kanehara, Masaaki²

Source: World Archaeology, Volume 38, Number 2, June 2006 , pp. 259-273(15)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

The Jomon culture of Japan (14,000-2500 bp) is characterized by exceptionally dense and sedentary populations of hunters, fishers and gatherers. Various arguments have been put forward in favour of Jomon agriculture; it is argued here that such arguments are persuasive only if they are based on actual remains of the plants themselves. Recent excavations of wetland sites such as Awazu and Torihama have produced a range of herbaceous plants that were most probably cultivated, and the arboriculture of chestnut and other tree species is also likely. However, many archaeologists think that this cultivation remained on a small scale throughout the Jomon period, and that it was integrated into the predominantly foraging economy rather than precipitating a change to a socioeconomic system based on agriculture. Only in the Yayoi period after c . 2500 bp did agriculture become economically predominant, probably as the result of major immigration of wet-rice-cultivating groups from the Korean peninsula or China.

Keywords: Jomon; paleoethnobotany; plant remains; cultivation; wetland archaeology; yam

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00438240600708295

Affiliations: 1: Environmental Archaeology, Kyoto University, Japan 2: Environmental Archaeology, University of Education, Japan

Publication date: 2006-06-01

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