ARCHAEOLOGIA JAPONICA

Jomon PeriodKAMIJŌ Nobuhiko1
This ﬁscal year a “Jomon boom” was seen, such as a special exhibit by the Tokyo National
Museum “Jomon: 10,000 Years of Prehistoric Art in Japan.” Especially there were manywith artistic point of view and spiritual world of clay ﬁgurines (dogū), using abundantcolored pictures and illustrations.
As many excavation research projects were conducted in relation to reconstructive
projects for the Great East Japan Earthquake, aspects along the Pacific coastal area inTohoku are getting clear. There are many projects for organization of historic sites andacademic research by universities.
Major research themes are spatial framework of Jomon culture, mode of life, technology,hierarchy, and spirituality. Magazines had interdisciplinary articles with anthropology,archaeozoology, and archaeobotany.

“Boundaries” of the Jomon period
Discussion on spatial boundaries of Jomon culture that were grasped vaguely before werepublished. It handled the relationship between western Japan and the Korean peninsula, andstudy on wide-range exchanges due to the discovery of “Obora-style pottery” from northern
Honshu in Okinawa is developing in pottery clay analysis. Discussion on the Yayoi period’s beginning time heated up again with diﬀerent analysis viewpoint and methodology.
Many theses were backed by fundamental study such as lineage based on exchanges,
material interpretation paying attention to chains of movement, and extraction of ecologicalcharacteristics based on careful research.
As a result of lipid analysis on Incipient to Early Jomon pottery, it was revealed that thepottery was mainly used for processing aquatic resources.

Subsistence theory with multidisciplinary research
Abundant botanic artifacts were yielded mostly from southern Tohoku to northern Kanto.
Transition is seen in study themes to tackle subsistence from excavated examples of large
1 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki City, Aomori 036–8569, Japan(kamijo@hirosaki-u.ac.jp)

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JAPANESE JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 8 (2021): 334–335

TRENDS IN ARCHAEOLOGY IN JAPANamounts of pottery with pressed grain marks and their interpretation, hemp cultivation inEarly Jomon, utilization of wild plants like sansho (Japanese pepper), or pressed marks ofmats and insects.

Interpretation of the Jomon society seen from paved stones orgraves
There were interpretations on dwellings with paved stones and sites with arranged stones ineastern Japan, as well as rituals regarding discarded dwellings and funeral systems. As for
funeral systems, lineages of burial behavior and funeral rituals were pursued. On the usageof jar burial, various theories were examined and a hypothesis for miscarriage and stillborn
babies was supported based on relationship with capacity of pottery and size of buried
objects.

Spirituality seen from clay ﬁgurines and beads
Outstanding was theories on ownership or usage based on observation/analysis for clay
ﬁgurine study. Northeast Asia was pursued as the origin of Jomon beads. Also, its prototype
was assumed as bone and antler objects.

Distribution of everyday material
Distribution/trade theory was active for everyday material such as obsidian, red pigment,and asphalt.

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