ARCHAEOLOGIA JAPONICA

Interdisciplinary ResearchHOSOYA Leo Aoi1
In this article, tends of “interdisciplinary study” in ﬁscal 2016 for Japanese archaeology
are discussed on several characteristic topics.
For “prehistoric subsistence,” development was seen from “subsistence” study to“foodways” study as a ﬁeld of social study, due to development of various new analysis
methods. For lipid analysis, analysis of organic matter adhering to pottery was conducted
on two representative Jomon period sites: Torihama shell midden and Sannai Maruyama
site, and a possibility was indicated at both sites that Jomon pottery specialized inprocessing aquatic resources. (A. Lucquin et al., “Ancient Lipids Document Continuity
in the Use of Early Hunter-gatherer Pottery through 9,000 Years of Japanese Prehistory”
Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences Vol. 113 No.15, pp. 3991–3996) (C. Heronet al., “Molecular and Isotopic Investigations of Pottery and ‘Charred Remains’ fromSannai Maruyama and Sannai Maruyama No.9, Aomori Prefecture, Japan” Japanese
Journal of Archaeology 4, pp. 29–52) In the latter paper, analysis results suggested
a possibility of processing starchy food like nuts in baskets. These results are epochmaking as they urge us to reconsider prehistoric foodways fundamentally, for we tend
to think pottery as the center of cookware since it is an easy-to-be-found artifact. Theseresults also match ethnography of native North Americas who mostly used baskets toprocess nuts, their staple food, by leaching them in water for efﬁciency. (L.A. Hosoya“Processing, Storage and Symbolism of Wild Nuts in the Past and Present” SEAA7: 7thWorldwide Conference of the Society for East Asian Archaeology)
There is a shift of interest in Japanese pottery study “from typology to usage theory,”
including lipid analysis. For reconstruction of cooking methods by analyzing soot andburns left on pottery, Archaeological Journal No. 682 had a featured article “Pottery asa Tool.”
For starch residue analysis, which has been established as an analysis method oforganic matter left on stone tools and pottery, SHIBUTANI Ayako published a thesis
on “the signiﬁcance of starch residue analysis” as a compilation of past studies. (Zanzon
Denpun-tsubu Bunseki no Igi “Signiﬁcance of Starch Residue Analysis” National
1 c/o Program for Leading Graduate Schools, Ochanomizu University, 2–1–1 Otsuka, Bunkyo Ward,

Tokyo 112–8610, Japan(hosoya.aoi@ocha.ac.jp)

JAPANESE JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 6 (2018): 58–60© Japanese Archaeological Association

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JAPANESE JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 6 (2018): 58–60

TRENDS ●●●●IN ARCHAEOLOGYTITLE ●●●●IN JAPANMuseum of Japanese History Ed. Challenge for “Integrated Studies of Cultural andResearch Resources” Yoshikawa Kobunkan)
As for other food culture study, there was “Shokubunka to Kokogaku: Jomon Jidai
no Dobutsu Itai” (Foodways and Archaeology: Animal Remains in the Jomon Period)”from the viewpoint of zooarchaeology (Archaeological Journal No. 694, 2017). Also,
there was discussion from various viewpoints including theoretical archaeology at asymposium ‘Dokomade Wakaru “Shoku no Kokogaku” Sono Riron to Jissen (How Much
Do We Know about “Archaeology and Food”: its Theory and Practice)’, held on March 2and 3, 2017 at Tohoku University.
As for “initial cultivation study,” Archaeology Quarterly 138 had a special featurearticle, “Yayoi Bunka no Hajimari (Beginning of Yayoi Culture)” and there wereresearch results published using replica methodology, isotope ratio analysis, and so on.
Focus on regional diversity was characteristic in the article, discussing not only rice but
other grains like millet. On DNA analysis of plant remains, KUMAGAI Masahiro etal. (Kumagai et al. “Rice Varieties in Archaic East Asia: Reduction of Diversity fromPast to Present Times” Molecular Biology and Evolution 33(10), pp. 2496–2505) andTANAKA Katsunori et al. [Tanaka et al. “Morphological and Molecular Genetics ofAncient Remains and Modern Rice (Oryza sativa) Conﬁrm Diversity in Ancient Japan”
Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 63, pp. 447–464] both pointed out that genetic
diversity of rice decreased from the prehistoric period to medieval. “Diversity” seems tobe the keyword for ﬁscal 2016 initial cultivation study.
In addition, interdisciplinary research saw new development in discussion of“environmental change and social problems.” As for “disaster archaeology” that drewattention due to the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 and Kumamoto Earthquake
in 2016, effects of natural disasters in the past on human society were able to bereconstructed quite accurately by oxygen isotope ratio analysis of tree-ring cellulosethat was developed in recent years. Examination became possible to compare a society
susceptible to inﬂuences of disaster and a society that is not susceptible, and thatknowledge could be used for today’s disaster prevention education. (NAKATSUKA
Takeshi “Directions in New Historical Disaster Studies Based on High Resolution
Paleoclimate Data” Bulletin of the National Museum of Japanese History No. 203, pp.
9–26).
Society of Archaeological Studies held its 62nd general meeting/study meeting (April2016) under the theme “Environmental Change and Social Change,” and HABU Junko(“Food Diversity and Climate Change” Kokogaku Kenkyu 250, pp. 38–50) and OBATA
Hiroaki (“Environment Change and Utilization Strategies for Plant Resources during
the Jomon Period” Kokogaku Kenkyu 251) discussed Jomon period environments
reconstructed using new analysis methods such as pollen analysis on ocean ﬂoor core
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ARCHAEOLOGIA

samples, alkenone paleothermometry analysis, replica methodology, and so on.
As for activities of international academic societies, many interdisciplinary research
results were presented at international conferences held in ﬁscal 2016: Society for East
Asian Archaeology (SEAA), International Work-Group for Palaeoethnobotany (IWGP),
and the World Archaeological Conference (WAC).

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