ON POTTERY AND ANALYZING FOOD HABITS IN THE EARLY NEOLITHIC PERIOD IN NORTHEAST ASIA

This study reconstructs food habits through carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis, and C/N analysis of charred residues inside pottery from Amur River sites in Russia (Goncharka 1 site, Novotroitskoe 10 site, Kondon 1 site) and in Hokkaido, Japan (Taisho 3 site, Yachiyo A site). We obtained dates from 12,330 to 7920 BP for these sites. There are major differences in the carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios between the Taisho 3 site (13C: –21.7 to –24.1‰; 15N: 11.9–14.7‰) and the other sites (13C: –22.0 to –27.1‰; 15N: 7.1–13.1‰), suggesting that the people of the Taisho 3 site made use of anadromous fish such as salmonids and some species of trout, as well as marine resources. The dates from the other sites except Taisho 3 were assumed to be from a mixture of marine foods, C3 plants and terrestrial animals, and freshwater fish. The food boiled in the pots also indicated a high dependence on marine resources during the initial stages of the emergence of pottery. INTRODUCTION It is known that the region of Northeast Asia was the site of the world’s earliest emergence of pottery (~15,000 cal BP, as at the Odai Yamamoto 1 site in Japan; Nakamura et al. 2001). The precipitating factors for the emergence of pottery are believed to be related to ecological changes accompanied by climatic changes from the end of the Pleistocene to the early Holocene. Many theories have been proposed regarding the functions and uses of pottery in the early Neolithic in Northeast Asia on the basis of pottery shapes (capacity and type) and stone artifact composition, changes in the natural environment, the beginning of river fishing, and the use of nuts. Recent results show that pottery emerged in 3 regions of East Asia (south China, the Japanese Islands, and the Russian Far East), and it seems that the combination of environmental changes and the necessity of processing terrestrial plants and freshwater fish and mollusks resulted in the production of pottery-making in East Asia (Kuzmin 2010). The emergence of pottery was a groundbreaking event in prehistoric East Asia. Therefore, examining the process will be extremely valuable for understanding the subsequent years of the Neolithic period. Some scholars have conducted various stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of human bone collagen since the 2000s for reconstruction of food habits in the Neolithic period in Northeast Asia (Kuzmin et al. 2002). This technique can also apply to charcoal samples as a measurement indicator for determining the existence of the marine reservoir effect in the 14C dating of charred residues found on pottery. Some interesting data were reported at the Goly Mys 1 site in Russia with the aim of reconstructing food habits (Sakamoto 2007). The Goly Mys 1 site (520908N, 1400065E) is located on the south coast of Lake Udyl’, one of the lakes spreading over the lowlands on the north side of the Sikhote Alin Mountains, in the northeast lower Amur River basin. The charred remains on pottery from the Goly Mys 1 site are characterized by 13C of –28 to –25‰ and 15N >10‰. Judging from the 13C value, they are unlikely to have been affected by the marine reservoir effect; however, the proposed age gives a date that is several hundred years older. Sakamoto (2007) points 1Faculty of Letters, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku Tokyo 113-0033, Japan. 2Corresponding author. Email: dkunikita@yahoo.co.jp. 3Museum of Archaeology, Khabarovsk Regional Museum after NI Grodekov, 86 Turgeneva st., Khabarovsk 680000, Russia. 4University Museum, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku Tokyo 113-0033, Japan. 5Obihiro Centennial City Museum, 2 Midorigaoka, Obihiro-shi Hokkaido 080-0846, Japan. 6School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 2-11-16 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku Tokyo 113-0032, Japan.