Social complexity in the Late Jomon period: theconstitution of the Shimo’ota shell mound cemeteryof the Boso Peninsula, eastern Kanto, Japan
Ishikawa Takeshi1
ABSTRACTThis paper aims to examine social complexity during the Late Jomon period (2500–1200 cal
BC) in eastern Japan. Previous reconstructions of Jomon society have analysed settlement
and cemetery organization and differences in house size and grave goods found within various
sites, and suggest segmentary social units and social stratiﬁcation. However, recent studies
have revealed two distinct types of cemetery in western Japan based on different organizational
principles of residential membership and other pan-tribal sodalities such as clanship after
the Late Jomon period. This approach is useful to estimate social complexity, including social
stratiﬁcation, in terms of inter- and intra-clan differentiation. I have therefore adopted thisapproach in conducting an osteo-archaeological analysis of skeletal remains found in the
Shimo’ota shell mound in the Kanto region of eastern Japan. My analysis of the cemetery’s
spatial organization and tooth crown measurements of the remains reveal that the Shimo’ota
cemetery site was atypical in that its occupants were selected from surrounding settlements
based on the principle of clan sodality. Taking into considering a number of other sites viewed
as representative of typical cemeteries of this region, I conclude that these sites were organizedaccording to different social principles of kinship and clanship corresponding to the social
formation of egalitarian tribes.
KEYWORDS: Late Jomon period, eastern Japan, social complexity, cemetery type, skeletal
remains, tooth crown measurements

Introduction
The social composition and complexity of the Jomon Period in the Japanese archipelago
have been investigated mainly through analyses of cemetery and settlement sites.
Outcomes of the analyses of cemeteries and other mortuary practices have been used toreconstruct speciﬁc social entities, such as lineages and other kin groups (e.g. Harunari
1973; Hayashi 1977, 1979, 1998; Takahashi 1991; Yamada 1995, 2008; Taniguchi 2002).
Mizuno Masayoshi modelled fundamental social units from the analyses of settlements
1 Archaeological

Heritage Management Ofﬁce, Kyushu University, 6–10–1 Hakozaki, Higashi Ward,
Fukuoka 812–8581, Japan (takeshi_ishikawa_8@hotmail.com)
Category: Original Article Received: 10 June 2014; Accepted: 4 November 2014
JAPANESE JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 2 (2014): 3–33

ISHIKAWA Takeshi

comprising circular conﬁgurations of pit dwellings. He found that a settlement andcemetery were divided into basically three segmental units, each of which contained
a pair of componential features such as pit dwellings and graves, for example, as seenin the spatial organisation of the Oyu stone circle (Mizuno 1968, 1969). He argued
that considering the nature of the social group represented by the pair of pit dwellings,
it reﬂected a family based on the correspondence of segmental units seen in both
settlements and cemeteries (Mizuno 1969).
Hayashi kensaku also focused on the spatial organisation of a cemetery to reveal thenature of the social group reﬂected there (Hayashi 1977, 1979). The analyses of burial
distribution, grave goods and sex of buried individuals revealed the spatial segments
within a cemetery. These spatial segments were interpreted as representing households(Hayashi 1979). In addition to the cemetery comprising several segmental social units, healso found the dualistic dividing principle mainly seen in the varied orientations of theburials. This dualistic division seen in mortuary treatment of the body was interpreted
as indicating the difference in membership originating from each speciﬁc settlement(Hayashi 1998, pp. 92–6). Harunari Hideji found two groups (2C type and 4I type) of
ritual tooth extraction patterns, with the two types related to distributional segmentsof burials within a cemetery (Harunari 1973). Harunari believed that the ritual tooth
ablation was conducted in two different rites of passage. Two maxillary canines wereapparently removed in an initiation ritual, whereas two mandibular canines and/or four
incisors were removed in a marriage rite. Harunari interpreted the 2C type individuals as
people marrying into a settlement from outside and the 4I type as those originating fromthe settlement (Harunari 1973, 2002). These interpretations were based on the settlement
which was formed by a clan member including people marrying from outside (Harunari1973). Moreover, the settlement organisation was assumed to be reﬂected in a cemetery.
Takahashi Ruzaburo analysed the kusakari shell mound in Chiba Prefecture which
was formed in a concentric circular conﬁguration of pits and pit dwellings. The eastern
half of this settlement was divided into eight segments of pit dwellings, part of which wasreused as burials after their decay. Takahashi interpreted these segments as representing
the kin groups (Takahashi 1991). Yamada Yasuhiro also focused on two segments seen
in both burials and pit dwellings at Gonbenbara shell mound in Chiba Prefecture. He
interpreted the segments of burials and pit dwellings as belonging to a household or
small scale family (Yamada 1995, 2008).
These studies attempt to reconstruct the social constitution of the settlement basedon several assumptions. One of them was that a settlement was an exogamous unit.
The interpretations of dichotomous types of ritual tooth extraction (e.g. Harunari1973) and body orientation in burials (Hayashi 1998) were based on this assumption.
However, this assumption was criticised because the social image of the modern era was© Japanese Archaeological Association

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used to reconstruct prehistoric society (Tanaka 1998). Tanaka Yoshiyuki alternatively
introduced the tribal social organisation and descent principle as a more appropriate
model for reconstructing Jomon society (Tanaka 1998). After this critical argument on
this assumption in previous studies, the segmental units of pit dwellings and gravesin settlements and cemeteries were then interpreted as representing lineages or clan
segments based on the ethnographic outcomes (e.g. Tanaka 1998, 1999; Mizoguchi 2002;
Taniguchi 2002). In other words, a settlement was recognised as organised by several
different exogamous social groups of lineages or clan segments (Tanaka 1998).
Besides these arguments on the segmental constitution of settlements, dualistic
division has been of interest to many scholars (e.g. Mizuno 1969; Harunari 1973; Hayashi
1977, 1998). kobayashi Tatsuo believed this dualistic pattern was more broadly found in
the distribution of pit dwellings and shell mounds in a settlement based on the correlatesof dualistic spatial division and two forms of hearths in a large public house, as well as
the construction of two pairs of stone circles (kobayashi 1996, 2004). This duality seen
in various material patterns was interpreted as representing dualistic principles similar tothe phratry seen among the Tlingit (kobayashi 1996, 2004, pp.116–33).
Secondly, the studies mentioned above were based on the assumption that a settlement,
cemetery and the segmental units between them corresponded to each other. Sasaki
koumei criticised this assumption and argued the possibility that certain cemeteries
were constructed by several settlements. His argument was based on one example ofspatial organisation at the Nishida site, Iwate Prefecture because the amount of burials
in the central circular area exceeded the number of residential features surrounding theoutermost circular area of the site (Sasaki 1991, p.185). This possibility was also based on
two rows of graves at the centre of the cemetery area in the Nishida site. The two rows
are estimated to signify dual organisation of the community (Tanaka 1998, 1999), and theindividuals who settled in both the Nishida site and the other settlements were selected to
be buried according to that dual organisation (Mizoguchi 2002, p.105). In addition to thisargument, internally segmented stone circles and circular-banked cemeteries are thought
to be regional core cemeteries and ceremonial places (kobayashi 1986; Tanaka 2008a)
which are mortuary places for individuals selected from different settlements (Tanaka
2008a).
As seen above, the multiple clan or clan segment constitution of a settlement andcemetery are argued mainly based on the spatial organisation of large-scale and regionalcore settlements and cemeteries. The argument is strengthened by the examinationof broader social networks based on the distributions of various material cultures(Mizoguchi 2002). Osteoarchaeological studies veriﬁed the archaeological estimationof the cemetery in which individuals were selectively buried from different settlements(Tanaka 2008a, 2008b). However, because these studies examined a cemetery located in© Japanese Archaeological Association

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ISHIKAWA Takeshi

western Japan, this kind of osteoarchaeological examination remains to be veriﬁed with
the Jomon society in eastern Japan.
Besides investigations on their primary social units, Jomon societies have been studied
from the perspective of social stratiﬁcation (e.g. Watanabe 1990; Kobayashi 1996;
Nakamura 1999). The stratiﬁcation of Jomon society was argued by Watanabe Hitoshi
who systematically used ethnographic analogy referring to socially stratiﬁed huntergatherers from areas surrounding the North Paciﬁc Rim (Watanabe 1990). The problem
of social stratiﬁcation was approached in terms of increasing grave goods, speciﬁcallythose given for child graves in the Tohoku region from the Late to Final Jomon periods(Nakamura 1999), and the existence of speciﬁc ornaments placed on limited numbers ofindividuals (kobayashi 1996).
However, although these arguments focused on the vertical differentiation of
the society, another viewpoint exists on the stratiﬁcation of society regarding its
complexity of vertical and horizontal differentiations, in particular the inter- and intraclan differentiation. For example, as a society becomes more vertically differentiated,individuals interred in speciﬁcally high-ranking cemeteries are expected to be morestrictly limited to members of a speciﬁc clan and lineages within a community
according to inter- and intra-clan differentiation (cf. Tanaka 2000). Although principles
for selecting individuals to be buried in atypical cemeteries will be an important clue
towards understanding societies in terms of their vertical and horizontal complexities,
the constitutional differences among cemeteries of the Jomon Period have only been
examined in western Japan (Tanaka 2000, 2001, 2008a, 2008b). Because of theabundance of skeletal remains, focusing on the differences in cemetery compositions will
also contribute to evaluating social complexities of human groups living in the easternpart of the archipelago.
This paper analyses one prominent cemetery site of the early half of the Late Jomon
Period (Late Jomon Period: 2500–1200 cal BC), the Shimo’ota shell mound, located in
the Kanto Area. It examines the composition of the cemetery, either based on a speciﬁc
or non-speciﬁc settlement by analysing burial distribution and tooth crown measurements
by which biological afﬁnity of buried individuals can be estimated.

Model, material and methods
Model: Types of cemetery

This investigation incorporates the two cemetery types proposed by Tanaka which aredescribed below (cf. Tanaka 2008a, p. 55).
Type 1 is a typical cemetery, wherein social groups constituting a settlement wereburied. Type 2 is an atypical cemetery, wherein individuals selected from different© Japanese Archaeological Association

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SOCIAL COMPLEXITY OF THE LATE JOMON PERIOD

Figure 1. Example of the atypical type of cemetery: the circular cemetery of the Yamaga shellmound (Tanaka 2008a, p. 54)

settlements were buried (Figure 1). The latter type of cemetery can be evaluated as one
for speciﬁc individuals selected by speciﬁc principles, such as social rank, social status,
kinship and gender.
These two cemetery types are hypothesised based on previous ﬁndings of different
kinds of settlements and cemeteries (kobayashi 1986). The typical cemetery type is
expected to correspond to the ordinary settlement. On the other hand, there are atypicalcemeteries, such as stone circles and circular-banked cemeteries. They are thought to beregional core cemeteries (kobayashi 1986; Tanaka 2008a), because parts of them wereused as ceremonial places and located at regular intervals (Matsunaga 1998). These
cemeteries are thought to correspond to the atypical cemetery type in the hypotheticalmodel discussed above. This kind of cemetery is hypothesised as one for selectedindividuals from the regional society because of its characteristics as the core cemeteryand ceremonial place.
We hypothesise that test results will reﬂect the constitutional differences between
the two cemetery types. The ﬁrst type is expected to include individuals with a highdegree of biological afﬁnity. The atypical/speciﬁc type of cemetery is thought to include
individuals who have more distant biological afﬁnity than expected in the typicalcemetery type. This hypothesis can be tested by use of tooth crown measurements.
Details of the methodology are presented in the following section.

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ISHIKAWA Takeshi

Material

The cemetery examined is the Shimo’ota shell mound located in the central part of the
Boso Peninsula in the kanto Area (Figure 2). Three research areas were excavated from1997 to 1999 (Figure 3, 茂原市教育委員会Mobara City Board of Education 2003). Morethan 100 skeletal remains from the early half of the Late Jomon Period were excavatedin research area No. 1. Most individuals were interred in single primary burials. In

Figure 2.

Locations of sites© Japanese Archaeological Association

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SOCIAL COMPLEXITY OF THE LATE JOMON PERIOD

Figure 3. Burial distribution and reported burial units in research area No. 1 (S=1/200, modiﬁed
from Sugaya 2000, p. 815) With kind permission from Mobara City Board of Education.

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Table 1:

Burial type and number of skeletal remains in the Shimo’ota shell mound
Adult
Burial type

Individual primary burials
Reburials
Multiple-individual
reburial pits

Nonadult
Total

Male

FemaleSex
unknown

Adolescence

Child

Fetus

12
4
12

12
1
8

5
0
13

0
0
4

4
1
14

0
0
0

33
6
51

28

21

18

4

19

0

90

addition to these individual primary burials, several secondary burials (No. 66 to No.
69) contained disarticulated individuals, of which ﬁve adults and one child were found.
In addition to these, three multiple-individual burial pits contained 9–32 individuals who
had been reinterred. These two kinds of reburials are distinguished by the number ofindividuals included and their locations in the cemetery area. The number of individuals
interred in each burial type is shown in Table 1. Reported Q-mode correlation coefﬁcientscores (Combination of teeth: Upper P1, P2, M1. kato & Matsumura 2003, p. 199) areused for the statistical analyses of tooth crown measurements.

Method 1: Analysing the spatial organisation of the Shimo’ota cemetery

Three different analyses were conducted from an osteoarchaeological perspective. The
spatial distribution of burials within the research area was examined based on analysis ofbody orientations, and their relationships to sex differences and locations of the multipleindividual secondary burial pits. Analyses of the spatial organisation will contribute to
the eventual discovery of meaningful spatial units in the cemetery.

Method 2: Analysing tooth crown measurements

Analyses of tooth crown measurements were used to estimate biological afﬁnity
among the skeletal remains. The pioneering work of Hanihara et al. (1983) showedthat mesiodistal diameter measurements of the tooth crown are a reliable indicator of
biological kin relationships between individuals. Doi et al. (1986) reﬁned this methodby adding measurements of buccolingual diameter and identifying useful combinationsof teeth by analysing modern samples for which they could control biological afﬁnity.
They then applied this method to reconstructing kinship among individuals buried intunnel tombs from the late kofun Period (ca. 6th to 7th centuries AD). A tunnel tomb isa type of mounded tomb constructed by digging a chamber tunnel in the hill slope and© Japanese Archaeological Association

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SOCIAL COMPLEXITY OF THE LATE JOMON PERIOD

mountainous area that dates from the middle of the 5th to 7th centuries AD. The tunnel
tombs were constructed with entrance features and passages for reuse. Thus, as a generalmortuary process, several individuals were sequentially buried in the same chamber over
several generations.
Sequential interments in the same chamber left several archaeological signatures,such as depositional sequences of the passage, skeletal arrangements, and assemblagesof sue wares. This archaeological evidence enables us to reconstruct the intervals
between each interment in cases when the tombs were well-preserved. Based on thereconstruction of sequences and interment intervals within a chamber, generational
relations between individuals were hypothesised to correspond with the results of toothcrown measurements.
The osteoarchaeological use of this method is based on contemporary clinical studiesof the relationship between tooth crown measurements and kin relation. Collecting
modern control samples of both kin-related and unrelated individuals with various
combinations of teeth, studies compared Q-mode correlation coefﬁcients scores of eachpair of individuals and concluded that a value of more than 0.5 can be used as a criterion
for estimating kin relations to within the third degree of consanguinity (Doi et al. 1986).
In addition to information on age and sex, studies examined archaeological information
as mentioned above to construct hypothetical models of the composition of burial
generations. By testing the hypothetical models using tooth crown measurements, kinshipwas reconstructed between individuals buried in a tunnel tomb (e.g. Tanaka 1995).
In contrast to the circumstances of tunnel tombs of the Kofun Period, it is difﬁcult
or impossible to infer certain sequences and time intervals among primary grave pits orinterments in the communal cemeteries of the Jomon Period. Moreover, the duration ofuse in most cemeteries of the Jomon Period is difﬁcult to estimate because not all gravescontain burial goods.
These conditions make it difﬁcult to apply the method for estimating kinship using
tooth crown measurements similar to the studies from the kofun Period. As long as it
is difﬁcult to estimate the duration of cemetery use, we must consider the possibilityof morphological resemblances seen in tooth crown measurements attributable toaccidental resemblance. An effective technique for addressing this problem is to compare
statistical differences between average scores of the Q-mode correlation coefﬁcient ofan archaeological sample and a biologically unrelated modern control sample by using
the t-test (Tanaka & Doi 1987; Tanaka 2008a). A signiﬁcant difference between the two
average scores of the Q-mode correlation coefﬁcient indicates that an archaeologicalpopulation contained a certain number of individuals with close biological afﬁnity,
although any concrete kin relation between each pair of individuals is unknown.
In contrast, an insigniﬁcant difference between the two average scores signiﬁes the© Japanese Archaeological Association

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ISHIKAWA Takeshi

Figure 4.

Categories of pairs of individuals by archaeological entity

possibility that an archaeological sample contains fewer individuals with close biologicalafﬁnity.
Before statistically comparing average scores of the Q-mode correlation coefﬁcient, itis necessary to examine the adequacy of the spatial groups, including individual primary
burials and multiple-individual burials. In accordance with the complex of primary
individual burials and multiple-individual burial pits, pairs of individuals in the analysisof tooth crown measurements varied. Those pairs can be categorised by inter- and intraburial groups, inter- and intra- burial types of individual primary burial and multipleindividual reburials (Figure 4). These various categories of pairs are expected to include
both useful and less useful pairs for estimating biological afﬁnity among a sample
population.
Based on analysis of the spatial distribution of burials, primary individual burials aregrouped with other primary burials and multiple-individual burial pits. Comparisonsof averages of Q-mode scores of pairs of individuals in primary burials with thosein multiple-individual burials are used to evaluate the adequacy of the archaeologicalgrouping. whole pairs in each category (Figure 4) are then compared by frequencies of
Q-mode scores for the same purpose.

Method 3: Examining arrangements of skeletal remains in multiple-individual
reburial pits

Although the above analysis is useful for estimating the structure and contents of acemetery used over a long period of time, two possibilities can potentially account for an© Japanese Archaeological Association

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insigniﬁcant result between the average scores of the Q-mode correlation coefﬁcient ofan archaeological sample and those of a non-kin modern control sample. One possibility
is that the archaeological sample includes a smaller number of individuals withpositive biological afﬁnity. The second prospect is that even though a certain numberof individuals with close biological afﬁnity are included in the archaeological sample,
a decrease in the Q-mode average scores can result from a long span of successive
generations. This would make it difﬁcult to ﬁnd any signiﬁcant differences in the modern
control sample.
Fortunately, articulation of the skeletal remains in multiple-individual secondary burial
pits can help us choose between these two possibilities because the degree of preservationof articulated body parts enables us to estimate the relative length of generation depth
among them.
The articulation of body parts represented by skeletal remains was previously
mentioned as a trait seen in some multiple-individual reburial pits in this region (Sugaya
2007, p. 114). Differing rates of soft tissue decomposition from different body parts canplay a role in estimating the relative generation depth of individuals reburied in multipleindividual pits. Because more persistent body parts are expected to be preserved more
frequently in secondary burials than other parts that decay earlier, they will contribute to
the relative estimate of generation depth. In contrast, we can use the disarticulation-prone
body parts for identifying individuals reburied after a short-term interval after primaryinterment (cf. Duday 2009, p. 26).
Differences in the persistence of body parts was seen in research of ossuaries in thenorth-eastern region of North America, wherein the frequencies of articulated bones
differed by body part (Ubelaker 1974; williamson et al. 2003). Bones of the foot, leg(tibia and ﬁbula) and thoracic vertebrae were reported as most frequently articulated in
Ossuary II of the Nanjemoy Creek Juhle site (Ubelaker 1974, pp. 28–31). The lumbosacral
joint, pelvis and ankle were also frequently articulated in the Ossuary (Ubelaker
1974, pp. 28–31). In contrast, bones of the hip joint, shoulder, elbow and knee werearticulated less frequently (Ubelaker 1974, pp. 28–31). Similar patterns were reported
in the Moatﬁeld Ossuary in Toronto, Ontario (Williamson et al. 2003). In general, parts
supporting the body weight are persistent (lumbar vertebrae, lumbar-sacrum, pelvis(sacro-iliac vertebrae), knee, ankle and tarsal-metatarsal (Lisfranc joint) (Duday 2009, p.
27). These observations are mutually consistent and also partially correspond to forensic
cases, wherein the vertebral column was reported as the part preserved most frequently
in the primary location of the corpse (Haglund 1997, p. 391).
Aside from these differences between the relative persistence of articulations, thedecomposition rate is another critical problem for estimating the longevity of generations
included in a multiple-individual reburial pit. This is because various factors originating© Japanese Archaeological Association

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ISHIKAWA Takeshi

from natural and artiﬁcial agents and their interrelation contribute to decomposition rates(Mann et al. 1990; Rodriguez 1997; Roksandic 2002; Duday 2009).
Several estimates have been made for the decomposition rates of certain body parts,
such as eleven months for knee joints (Duday 2009, p. 26), and eight months for lower legs
and foot bones (Ubelaker 1974, p. 67). Several ethnological examples can also be usefulfor the estimating decomposition rates in archaeological cases. Based on ethnologicalreports of exhumations of primary burials in preparation for secondary burials in several
areas of the Japanese archipelago (Ito 1979; Nagata 1979), Tanaka estimated that remains
take approximately ten years to be completely skeletonised (Tanaka 1995, pp. 69–70).
Although estimates of decomposition rates in forensic studies vary (e.g. Furuhata 1964;
Ikeda 2006), useful estimates state that decomposition of ligaments and cartilage takes
approximately three to four years, and a body buried underground becomes completely
skeletonised after seven to ten years (Hojyo et al. 1958, p. 48).
Because Ubelaker’s (1974, p. 67) estimation was based on the assumption that a bodywas buried in the death house or scaffold until reburial or the ‘feast of the dead’ (Twaites
1896–1901, JR 10: 278–303), the decomposition rate was estimated to be very short.
Although accurate estimates of decomposition rates remain to be determined, it isplausible to estimate that the decomposition of remains takes well under ten years. In
other words, an individual dead for over ten years is expected to be skeletonised. Thismeans that it is difﬁcult to use states of body part articulation to discern the length ofintervals among individuals buried for more than ten years before secondary inhumation.
For example, we cannot distinguish between individuals buried for 20 years fromthose buried for 30 years just by the arrangement of their skeletal remains. In spite ofthese problems and limitations in estimating the post-mortem interval, the occurrenceof articulated body parts and their frequency are expected to provide partially useful
information for estimating the relative depths of generations, if the death rate is assumed
to be constant over the generations. The longer the depth of generations contained in asecondary burial, the lower the percentage of articulated individuals is expected to be
and vice versa (Figure 5).
For a comparative estimate of the depth of generations in secondary burials of the
Shimo’ota shell mound, the same kind of secondary burial excavated from the Nakazuma
shell mound is used. Individuals in this burial pit were estimated by the analyses of toothcrown measurements to include several biologically related groups (Matsumura et al.
1996; Funahashi 2009). Comparing the state of articulation of remains in the secondary
burial pits at both sites allows us to determine differences in the relative generation depthof each reburial pit.

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Figure 5.
burials

Post-mortem decomposition and depth of successive generations in multiple-individual

Analyses and results
Site formation processes

The Late Jomon Period cemetery was initially thought to be divided into ﬁve unitsof graves based on the spatial distribution of burial pits (Figure 3). Despite thisclassiﬁcation of burial units, water ﬂow was found to have disturbed a substantial part of
the research area except for the central part (Figure 6, Mobara City Board of Education
2003). Because of the disturbance of the later site formation, the distributional pattern
uncovered by the excavation should not be considered a direct reﬂection of the original
spatial organisation of the cemetery area. Although it is difﬁcult to reconstruct theoriginal spatial organisation from the disturbed and fragmentary distribution of graves,several other cemetery sites in the kanto area also comprise a complex of primary
burials and multiple-individual secondary burials similar to the Shimo’ota shell mound.
The Gionbara shell mound (Figure 2) is one such site. Individual primary burials are
distributed to form circular cemetery areas, each centred around a multiple-individual
secondary burial (cf. Yamada 1995, p. 58; Ishikawa 2011). In light of this spatial pattern,© Japanese Archaeological Association

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ISHIKAWA Takeshi

Figure 6. Burial distribution and site formation of research area No. 1 (S=1/250, modiﬁed from
Mobara City Board of Education 2003, pp. 28, 29, 39) With kind permission from Mobara City
Board of Education.
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burial distributions of the Shimo’ota shell mound can be evaluated differently.

Re-examination of the cemetery spatial structure
Distribution of burials and body orientations

Body orientation in burials is thought to be among the possible clues for reconstructing
the spatial pattern of cemeteries. Several variations in body orientation were foundamong individuals in the research area. Observing the variations of body orientationin accordance with the burial units established in the research report, I found thatburial unit No. 1 included two main orientations, type 1 (north-west) and type 3 (eastsouth); and two minor methods, type 2 (west-south) and 4 (north-east, Figure 7). Most
interments among the burial units other than No. 1 are oriented to the south (Figure 7).
Assuming that the spatial pattern of the cemetery is circular with a multiple-individual
secondary burial area at its centre, variations in body orientation can be evaluated inanother way: Types 1 and 3 in burial unit No. 1 can be considered to follow concentric
circles surrounding the multiple-individual secondary burial pit A (Figure 8). The same
pattern can be observed in burial unit No. 2. Although some variations do not follow
these circular lines, such as individuals in Nos. 6, 8, 18 and 57 in burial unit No. 1, andindividual No. 48 in burial unit No. 2, these minor variations can be argued to follow theconcentric circles formed around multiple-individual burial pit B (Figure 8).

Figure 7.

Variation and body orientation types in burial units© Japanese Archaeological Association

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ISHIKAWA Takeshi

Figure 8. The circular spatial organisation of the Shimo’ota shell mound (S=1/200, modiﬁed from
Mobara City Board of Education 2003, p. 39) With kind permission from Mobara City Board of
Education.
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Despite the disturbance of the later water ﬂow, I can discern from these observations
that the cemetery was organised in a circular arrangement. Based on the assumption ofa circular cemetery organisation centred around multiple-individual reburial pits A to C,
the burials can be re-classiﬁed into three groups, burial groups A through C. However,those in burial group C are unclear because of the marginal location of multipleindividual reburial pit C.

Body orientations and sex differences

We had a sufﬁcient number of samples to evaluate the relationship between bodyorientations and sex differences only in the north-western part of burial group A.
Body orientation type 1 is seen mainly in the southern half of the area, in contrast to
body orientation type 3 which mostly appears in the northern half with several deviant
individuals. Adult males dominate type 1 (male: 4, female: 1, adult sex unknown: 2,
child: 2) in contrast with type 3 (male: 3, female: 9, adult sex unknown: 1, child: 1),
wherein females are predominant. Nevertheless, no statistical difference is evident
between body orientation types 1 and 3, and sex difference (p=0.10068). Based on thisspatial distribution of the body orientation types within part of the circular cemeteryarea, the cemetery area of burial group A could possibly be composed of several
segmental units divided by different body orientations but not signiﬁcantly related to thesex difference.

Re-examination of tooth crown measurements

In the research report for this site, kato and Matsumura estimated that the individuals
in multi-individual secondary burials were related by kin, because a sufﬁcient numberof pairs had Q-mode scores over 0.5 (kato & Matsumura 2003, p. 185). However, as
previously mentioned, we should examine the Q-mode score averages by comparing
them with a non-kin control sample to eliminate accidental similarities expected incemeteries used over long periods of time.

A preliminary test of archaeological groupings of burials

I ﬁrst conducted a preliminary examination of the adequacy of burial groups
reconstructed by spatial analysis. Among the four primary individual burials undergoing
tooth crown measurement, three individuals (S20, S48 and S53) can be classiﬁed bytheir body orientations as coming from either burial group A or B. According to thecircular cemetery plans, S20 can be classiﬁed as part of burial group A and S48 and S53
as part of burial group B. Average scores of the Q-mode correlation coefﬁcient of these
individuals paired with those reburied in the multiple-individuals reburial pits A and B
can be used to verify the archaeological groupings. As shown in Table 2, the averages ofpairs containing individuals in the same burial group tend to be higher than those of thepairs from different burial groups. This includes pairs from S20 of burial group A and© Japanese Archaeological Association

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Table 2: Mean values of the Q-mode coefﬁcient correlation in pairs between individuals fromprimary individual burials and multiple-individual burial pits A and B
Pairs

Number of
pairs

Mean

Std

Burial group A: S20*Multiple-individual A
S20*Multiple-individual B
Burial gorup B: S48*Multiple-individual B
S48*Multiple-individual A
Burial group B: S53*Multiple-individual B
S53*Multiple-individual A(1)
Burial group B : S66*Multiple-individual B
S66*Multiple-individual A

7
3
3
7
3
7
3
7

0.239
−0.2890.005−0.1060.295−0.3120.119−0.284

0.333
0.291
0.463
0.689
0.628
0.500
0.145
0.511

(1) Reburied individual of S66 is classiﬁed in burial group B by high mean value seen in thepairs with individuals of mutiple-individual burial B, as the body direction of this individual isunknown.

those buried in multiple-individual burial pit B, although the pairs of samples are limited
in number. This tendency signiﬁes in part the adequacy of burial groups estimated by the
distribution of graves and body orientations. Based on this pattern, reburied individual
S66 can be classiﬁed as part of burial group B because of its higher average when pairedwith individuals of multiple-individual burial pit B rather than those of pit A (Table 2).
A similar pattern is seen in the frequencies of the Q-mode correlation coefﬁcient ofpairs between the inter-burial groups (Figure 9, category 2-1) and intra-burial groups(Figure 9, category 2-2) of A and B which were calculated from a total of 91 pairs ofindividuals (Figure 10-1). Pairs containing individuals from different burial groups
showed a higher frequency of lower Q-mode scores than pairs of individuals from thesame burial groups (Figure 10-2). This means that the pairs between the intra-burialgroups are expected to be meaningful for analysing biological afﬁnity of the sample
population.
These pairs (category 2-2) can be divided into two categories of paired individuals
from burial groups A and B. The numbers of pairs of individuals in each burial group
was further divided according to the categories indicated in Figure 9 (burial group
A: categories 4-1, 2, 3; burial group B: categories 4-4, 5, 6). Among these categories
of paired individuals, the Q-mode scores of pairs of individuals from primary burials(S48, S53 and S66) of burial group B (Figure 10-4, pair 4-6) had a relatively limited
distribution in a higher range; however, the number of pairs is limited. Apart from thiscategory of pairs in burial group B, most categories of pairs from both burial groups A© Japanese Archaeological Association

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SOCIAL COMPLEXITY OF THE LATE JOMON PERIOD

Figure 9.

Categories of pairs of burial groups and the hierarchical relationship among categories

Figure 10.

Frequencies of the Q-mode correlation coefﬁcient© Japanese Archaeological Association

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ISHIKAWA Takeshi

Table 3:

Statistical test of the mean values of the Q-mode coefﬁcient correlation
Category of pair

Numberof pairs

Mean

Category 1 : Total pairs
Category 2-1 : Between burial groups
Category 2-2 : within burial groups
Category 3-1 : Burial group A
Category 3-2 : Burial group B
Category 4-1 : M-I burial pit A
Category 4-2 : M-I burial pit A*Primary burial in group A
Category 4-4 : M-I burial pit B
Category 4-5 : M-I burial pit B*Primary burial in group B
Category 4-6 : Primary burial in group B
Non-related modern control sample

91
48
43
28
15
21
7
3
9
3
200

−0.0564−0.23220.13990.10890.19780.0656
0.23900.00070.13980.5689*0.019

Signiﬁcance

Sources of the non-related modern control sample is from Tanaka et al. 1987.
Mean values were calculated from the Q-mode correlation coefﬁcient scores reported by Katoand Matsumura 2001 (Combination of teeth: Upper P1P2M1).
Signiﬁcance level α<0.05; *, α<0.01; **(Figure 10-3, Category of pair 4-1 and 4-2) and B (Figure 10-4, Category 4-4 and 4-5)
included a similarly wide range of Q-mode scores rather than obviously different ranges.

Comparing the averages of Q-mode correlation coefﬁcient scores

Most results of the statistical signiﬁcance test using the reported Q-mode scores (Kato &Matsumura 2003, p. 199) were negative (Table 3). Calculations were conducted in various
categories, such as the entire sample and various pairs categorised by burial groups A
and B. Although only pairs between those in primary individual burials in burial group
B (category 4-6) differed signiﬁcantly from the non-kin control group, the number ofpairs was limited. No other categories of pairs differed signiﬁcantly with the control nonkin sample.

Articulation of skeletal remains and the relative depth of generations
Articulated body parts in pit B of the Shimo’ota shell moundAs mentioned in the methodological discussion, if averages of Q-mode scores among
an archaeological sample do not differ signiﬁcantly from the non-kin control sample,
two possibilities arise. The result could indicate that an archaeological sample includes
fewer individuals with close biological afﬁnity. Similarly, the result could reﬂect
actual biological afﬁnity among reburied individuals obscured by the repeated, longterm interment of successive generations. Skeletal arrangements in multiple-individual© Japanese Archaeological Association

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SOCIAL COMPLEXITY OF THE LATE JOMON PERIOD

Figure 11. Articulated body parts in layers 1–2 of multiple-individual burial pit B in the Shimo’ota
shell mound (modiﬁed from Mobara City Board of Education 2003, p. 66, PL. 66) With kindpermission from Mobara City Board of Education.

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ISHIKAWA Takeshi

Figure 12. Articulated body parts in layers 3–5 of multiple-individual burial pit B in the Shimo’ota
shell mound (modiﬁed from Mobara City Board of Education 2003, p. 67, PL. 67, 68) With kindpermission from Mobara City Board of Education.

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SOCIAL COMPLEXITY OF THE LATE JOMON PERIOD

secondary burial pits are expected to play a role in identifying the correct possibility.
First, I will summarise earlier ﬁeld observations related to this point to complement
the following examination with second-hand information of reported ﬁgures andphotographs. In general, arrangements of skeletal remains involved a large number ofpartly articulated bones, although a few were anatomically dissociated in their location(Mobara City Board of Education 2003, p. 63). The articulated parts were reported to be
sections of vertebral columns as well as several ribs which were preserved in anatomicalorder in pit B. In pit A, several humerus-radius-ulna and femur-ﬁbula-tibia sets were
preserved intact. Field observations indicated that many individuals were reburied before
complete decomposition of soft tissue (Mobara City Board of Education 2003, p. 63).
Among the three multiple-individual reburial pits (A, B and C) pit B was sufﬁciently
documented to allow further examination of the arrangement of remains.
Pit B was reported in six layers (Figures 11–12). This pit included nine individuals
among which were ﬁve adults (male: 3, female: 2) and four adolescents. In the ﬁrst andsecond layers, several sets of bones were preserved in anatomical order. One prominent
trait in these upper layers was an identiﬁable individual with most of its post-cranial
parts articulated and preserved in anatomical order (Figure 11: dark grey). Beside thisindividual, there was also part of an articulated vertebral column (Figure 11: a).
In the south-eastern part of the third layer was a cranium with articulated
temporomandibular joint excavated and removed (Figure 12: Layer 3, a). There were also
two sets of pelves located from the north to north-eastern part of the pit. In the easternpart, a sacrum and ilia were articulated (Figure 12: Layer 3, c), and the other coxal bones
were not severely dissociated (Figure 12: Layer 3, d). In addition to these articulated
body parts, the other cranium merits attention: it was disarticulated from its mandible,
but most of its maxillary dentition was preserved (Figure 12: Layer 3, b). From the fourth
to ﬁfth layers, a partially articulated vertebral column (Figure 12: Layer 4, b) and pelvis
bones were found, of which the sacrum and ilia were in nearly anatomical connection(Figure 12: Layer 5, a-1, 2 and 3).
Examination of the documented materials of multiple-individual burial pit B indicatesthat the articulated body parts consist of both of those prone to relatively early decay
such as the temporomandibular joint, and those persisting longer such as the sacroiliac
articulation and vertebral column (cf. Duday 2009). The pit also included an individual
buried after a short post-mortem interval. It is also worth noting that dentition fromthe maxilla and mandible was preserved in numerous cases, since teeth tend to become
dissociated from their alveoli early in the natural disarticulation sequence (cf. Haglund
1997, p. 383).

Comparison with the Nakazuma site

Evaluating the arrangement of skeletal remains from the Nakazuma site is useful for© Japanese Archaeological Association

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ISHIKAWA Takeshi

Figure 13. Articulated body parts in multiple-individual burial pit A in the Nakazuma shell mound(modiﬁed from Toride City Board of Education 1995, pp. 125, 126) With kind permission from Toride
City Board of Education.

comparison between the relative number of generations interred in the multiple-individual
burial of the Shimo’ota shell mound. From secondary burial Pit A, 96 individuals wereexcavated. Among these, 60 adults were identiﬁed (male: 41 and female: 19) (取手市教育委員会Toride City Board of Education 1995).
In the uppermost layer, the cranium and vertebral column were articulated in two
individuals (Figure 13). According to the research report, most bones were disarticulated,
although a few partially articulated bones and sets of metacarpals and metatarsals were
found. A number of bundles of limb bones were also found in the pit (Toride City
Board of Education 1995, p. 123). From these observations it can be inferred that the 96
individuals were reburied in the pit after most of their body parts had decomposed andskeletonised (Toride City Board of Education 1995, p. 127). In addition, a small numberof partly articulated vertebral columns and pelves were seen in the middle and lower
levels of the pit (Figure 13). However, the frequency of articulated body parts is low
relative to the extremely large number of individuals buried there.
As previously mentioned, pit B of the Shimo’ota site contained a number of individuals
whose relatively persistent body parts were articulated as well as several body parts
that tend to disarticulate sooner. Comparing the degree of preservation of articulated
body parts in the multiple-individual burial pits from both sites, at least the individuals
reburied in pit B at the Shimo’ota site are estimated to cover the same or shorter span ofgenerations as those in pit A at the Nakazuma site.

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SOCIAL COMPLEXITY OF THE LATE JOMON PERIOD

Discussion and conclusion
The cemetery type at the Shimo’ota shell moundTwo types of cemetery, typical and atypical, were described at the beginning of thispaper. If the site were a typical cemetery, buried individuals would be expected to have ahigh degree of biological afﬁnity. In contrast, an atypical cemetery would be expected toinclude individuals with more distant biological afﬁnity (cf. Tanaka 2008a).
The re-examination of tooth crown measurements from the Shimo’ota population
tested these implications by using the average scores of the Q-mode correlation
coefﬁcient. Results indicated that the individuals buried in this cemetery do not differ
signiﬁcantly from those in the modern non-kin control sample.
Negative statistical test results raised two possibilities according to the relative degreeof decomposition of those who were exhumed and reburied in the multiple-individual
burials. Comparing the decomposition rates in the multiple-individual burial pit of the
Nakazuma shell mound, in which individuals differed signiﬁcantly from the modern
control non-kin sample, the Simo’ota population was estimated to include successive
generations of the same or lesser length of time than the Nakazuma population.
These two data sets, combined with the relatively short period covering the interred
generations and the negative results seen most statistical tests using averages of the
Q-mode scores with the modern control sample, allow me to consider the possibility
that the Simo’ota population included both a large number of individuals with relatively
distant biological afﬁnity and a certain number of closely related individuals. Based on
this estimate, the cemetery areas of the Shimo’ota shell mound can be classiﬁed as theatypical rather than the typical type.

Implications for social complexity during the Late Jomon period

what social structures underlie an atypical cemetery and how does this cemeterytype reﬂect social memberships or principles? The Shimo’ota cemetery area can bereconstructed as comprising several burial groups, each of which has a circular spatialorganisation centred around a multiple-individual burial pit. The segmental units divided
by body orientation were found within a circular burial group centred around multipleindividual burial pit A, although the spatial segmentations could be examined only ina severely limited area due to disturbance by later water ﬂow disturbance. This innersegmental spatial organisation signiﬁes that the cemetery was not a simple accumulationof random interment. One of the most plausible social motivations for the formation of
the atypical cemetery type might be that its burial groups encompass a larger socialgroup than a settlement which is thought to be the organisational basis of the atypicalcemetery type (cf. Tanaka 2008a). The deceased in atypical cemeteries are thought to© Japanese Archaeological Association

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ISHIKAWA Takeshi

belong to several different clans, whose segmental units such as lineages dispersed
among different settlements and were co-resident with other lineages, originating fromdifferent clans (Figure 4).
In the pioneering settlement analyses of the 1960s, segmental units in a settlement
and cemetery were of interest and were interpreted relying on various concepts suchas family (Mizuno 1969), household (Hayashi 1979) and kin group (Takahashi 1991).
After the critical introduction of social anthropology studies after the 1990s (e.g. Tanaka
1998, 1999, 2000; Mizoguchi 2002; Taniguchi 2002), the same phenomenon of segmental
units within a settlement/cemetery became to be understood as representing lineages orclan segments. In addition to these arguments on the segmented and multiple-lineage
composition of settlements/cemeteries, several researchers argue about the atypical andregional core cemeteries, such as stone circles (Tanaka 1998, 1999). They expect thatsuch a regional core cemetery was the burial place for people originating from different
clans and residing in different settlements (Sasaki 1991; Mizoguchi 2002; Tanaka 2008a).
The above results indicating that the Shimo’ota cemetery was the atypical type areconsistent with the model of a regional core cemetery with inhumation of individuals
selected from different clans and different settlements (Sasaki 1991; Mizoguchi 2002;
Tanaka 2008a).
This kind of cemetery composition has implications for the social complexity during
the Jomon Period. In recent decades, the stratiﬁcation of Jomon society is one important
theme of studies (e.g. watanabe 1990; kobayashi 1996; Nakamura 1999), meanwhile thesocial complexity is argued to be based on ‘the overall egalitarianism’ (Mizoguchi 2002,
p. 111) with situational leaders (Hayashi 1998; Tanaka 2000; Mizoguchi 2002, 2013).
Social stratiﬁcation can be evaluated by focusing on social complexity in terms of thedegree of inter- and intra-clan differentiation (cf. Tanaka 2000). As mentioned above,
individuals from different settlements and different clan origins are thought to be buriedin the atypical cemetery at the Shimo’ota site. If so, this type of cemetery was formed byseveral different clans. This multiple-clan communal composition of a cemetery signiﬁes
a lesser degree of inter-clan differentiation or egalitarian social complexity. However, thedegree of intra-clan differentiation is not clear from the analysis presented here, and it
remains to be examined using other, more well-preserved materials.
The society reconstructed from the content of typical and atypical cemetery types
is thought to have similar organisational traits to those modelled by R. keesing for thesocial and settlement organisation of tribal societies (keesing 1975, pp. 39–43). In his
model, a tribal society forms a multiple-lineage settlement which includes two cases ofsegmental lineages of the same clan that may or may not be dispersed to several different
settlements. Atypical cemeteries and their segmental units correspond to settlements withmultiple-lineage constitutions. One proponent trait of a tribal social formation involves© Japanese Archaeological Association

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SOCIAL COMPLEXITY OF THE LATE JOMON PERIOD

Figure 14.

Constitution of tribal society and types of cemeterythe local society that is organised by both segmentation and integration of the clanshipsodality (Service 1979). The atypical cemetery seen in the Shimo’ota shell moundcorresponds to this social organising principle and segmentation/integration clanshipsodality which integrates different clans by forming a cemetery for burying the proponent
members originating from different clans dispersed among different settlements.
Based on these evaluations, the different cemetery types can be seen as reﬂecting thedifferent principles of tribal social formation.

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ISHIKAWA Takeshi

Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Tanaka Yoshiyuki and Funahashi kyoko for their stimulating
advice and comments during the preparation of this paper. I would also like to thank
Iwanaga Shozo, Miyamoto kazuo, Mizoguchi koji, Sato Renya, Nakahashi Takahiro andTujita Jun’ichiro for their kind advice during the process of this study. I wish to thankthe Mobara City Board of Education and Toride City Board of Education for their kindpermission to reproduce ﬁgures and plates.

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