Jomon Art

The Jomon period (, Jomon jidai) is the time in Japanese prehistory, traditionally dated between c.14,000-300 BCE, recently refined to about 1000 BCE, during which Japan was inhabited by a hunter-gatherer culture, which reached a considerable degree of sedentism and cultural complexity. The name "cord-marked" was first applied by the American zoologist and orientalist Edward S. Morse, who discovered sherds of pottery in 1877 and subsequently translated it into Japanese as Jomon. The pottery style characteristic of the first phases of Jomon culture was decorated by impressing cords into the surface of wet clay and is generally accepted to be among the oldest in the world.

The Jmon period was rich in tools and jewelery made from bone, stone, shell and antler; pottery figurines and vessels; and lacquerware. It is often compared to pre-Columbian cultures of the North American Pacific Northwest and especially to the Valdivia culture in Ecuador because in these settings cultural complexity developed within a primarily hunting-gathering context with limited use of horticulture.

Chronology

The approximately 14,000year Jomon period is conventionally divided into several phases: Incipient (13,750-8,500years ago), Initial (8,5005,000), Early (5,0003,520), Middle (3,5202,470), Late (2,4701,250), and Final (1,250500), with each phase progressively shorter than the prior phase. The fact that this entire period is given the same name by archaeologists should not be taken to mean that there was not considerable regional and temporal diversity; the time between the earliest Jomon pottery and that of the more well-known Middle Jmon period is about twice as long as the span separating the building of the Great Pyramid of Giza from the 21stcentury.

Dating of the Jomon sub-phases is based primarily upon ceramic typology, and to a lesser extent radiocarbon dating.

Recent findings have refined the final phase of the Jmon period to 1,000BCE. The Yayoi period started between 1,000 and 800BCE according to radio-carbon evidence.

Pottery

The earliest pottery in Japan was made at or before the start of the Incipient Jmon period. Small fragments, dated to 14 500 BCE, were found at the Odai Yamamoto I site in 1998. Pottery of roughly the same age was subsequently found at other sites such as Kamikuroiwa and Fukui Cave.

Archaeologist Junko Habu claims "[t]he majority of Japanese scholars believed, and still believe, that pottery production was first invented in mainland Asia and subsequently introduced into the Japanese archipelago." This seems to be confirmed by recent archaeology. As of now, the earliest pottery vessels in the world date back to 20 000 BP and were discovered in Xianren Cave in Jiangxi, China. The pottery may have been used as cookware. Other early pottery vessels include those excavated from the Yuchanyan Cave in southern China, dated from 16 000 BCE, and at present it appears that pottery emerged at roughly the same time in Japan, and in the Amur River basin of the Russian Far East.

The first Jomon pottery is characterized by the cord-marking that gives the period its name and has now been found in large numbers of sites. The pottery of the period has been classified by archaeologists into some 70 styles, with many more local varieties of the styles. The antiquity of Jmon pottery was first identified after World WarII, through radiocarbon dating methods. The earliest vessels were mostly smallish round-bottomed bowls 1050cm high that are assumed to have been used for boiling food and, perhaps, storing it beforehand. They belonged to hunter-gatherers and the size of the vessels may have been limited by a need for portability. As later bowls increase in size, this is taken to be a sign of an increasingly settled pattern of living. These types continued to develop, with increasingly elaborate patterns of decoration, undulating rims, and flat bottoms so that they could stand on a surface.

The manufacture of pottery typically implies some form of sedentary life because pottery is heavy, bulky, and fragile and thus generally unusable for hunter-gatherers. However, this does not seem to have been the case with the first Jmon people, who perhaps numbered 20 000 individuals over the whole archipelago. It seems that food sources were so abundant in the natural environment of the Japanese islands that it could support fairly large, semi-sedentary populations. The Jmon people used chipped stone tools, ground stone tools, traps, and bows, and were evidently skillful coastal and deep-water fishermen.

Chronological ceramic typology

Incipient Jmon (14 0007 500 BCE)

• Linear applique
• Nail impression
• Cord impression
• Muroya lower

Initial Jmon (75004000BCE)

• Igusa
• Inaridai
• Mito
• Lower Tado
• Upper Tado
• Shiboguchi
• Kayama

Incipient and Initial Jmon (13750-5000 BCE)

Traces of Paleolithic culture, mainly stone tools, occur in Japan from around 30 000 BP onwards. The earliest "Incipient Jmon" phase began while Japan was still linked to continental Asia as a narrow peninsula. As the glaciers melted following the end of the last glacial period (approximately 12 000 BP), sea levels rose, separating the Japanese archipelago from the Asian mainland; the closest point (in Kyushu) about 190 kilometres (120mi) from the Korean Peninsula is near enough to be intermittently influenced by continental developments, but far enough removed for the peoples of the Japanese islands to develop independently. In addition, Luzon, Taiwan, Ryukyu, and Kyushu constitute a continuous chain of islands, connecting the Jmon with maritime Southeast Asia.

Within the archipelago, the vegetation was transformed by the end of the Ice Age. In southwestern Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, broadleaf evergreen trees dominated the forests, whereas broadleaf deciduous trees and conifers were common in northeastern Honshu and southern Hokkaido. Many native tree species, such as beeches, buckeyes, chestnuts, and oaks produced edible nuts and acorns. These provided substantial sources of food for both humans and animals.

In the northeast, the plentiful marine life carried south by the Oyashio Current, especially salmon, was another major food source. Settlements along both the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean subsisted on immense amounts of shellfish, leaving distinctive middens (mounds of discarded shells and other refuse) that are now prized sources of information for archaeologists. Other food sources meriting special mention include Sika deer, wild boar (with possible wild-pig management), wild plants such as yam-like tubers, and freshwater fish. Supported by the highly productive deciduous forests and an abundance of seafood, the population was concentrated in central and northern Honshu, but Jmon sites range from Hokkaido to the Ryukyu Islands.

Early Jmon (5000-3520 BCE)

The Early Jmon period saw an explosion in population, as indicated by the number of larger aggregated villages from this period. This period occurred during the Holocene climatic optimum, when the local climate became warmer and more humid.

Early agriculture

The degree to which horticulture or small-scale agriculture was practiced by Jmon people is debated. The hunter-gatherer conceptualization of the Jmon period culture is part of scientific romanticized narratives. There is evidence to suggest that arboriculture was practiced in the form of tending groves of lacquer (Toxicodendron verniciflua) and nut (Castanea crenata and Aesculus turbinata) producing trees, as well as soybean, bottle gourd, hemp, Perilla, adzuki, among others. These characteristics place them somewhere in between hunting-gathering and agriculture.

An apparently domesticated variety of peach appeared very early at Jmon sites in 67006400BP (47004400BCE). This was already similar to modern cultivated forms. This domesticated type of peach was apparently brought into Japan from China. Nevertheless, in China, itself, this variety is currently attested only at a later date of c. 53004300BP.

Middle Jomon (3520-2470 BCE)

Highly ornate pottery dog figurines and vessels, such as the so-called "flame style" vessels, and lacquered wood objects remain from that time. Although the ornamentation of pottery increased over time, the ceramic fabric always remained quite coarse. During this time Magatama stone beads make a transition from being a common jewelry item found in homes into serving as a grave good. This is a period where there are large burial mounds and monuments.

This period saw a rise in complexity in the design of pit-houses, the most commonly used method of housing at the time, with some even having stone paved floors. A study in 2015 found that this form of dwelling continued up until the Satsumon culture. Using archaeological data on pollen count, this phase is the warmest of all the phases. By the end of this phase the warm climate starts to enter a cooling trend.

Late and Final Jomon (2470-500 BCE)

After 1500 BCE, the climate cooled entering a stage of neoglaciation, and populations seem to have contracted dramatically. Comparatively few archaeological sites can be found after 1500 BCE.

Castanea crenata becomes essential, not only as a nut bearing tree, but also because it was extremely durable in wet conditions and became the most used timber for building houses during the Late Jmon phase.

During the Final Jmon period, a slow shift was taking place in western Japan: steadily increasing contact with the Korean Peninsula eventually led to the establishment of Korean-type settlements in western Kyushu, beginning around 900 BCE. The settlers brought with them new technologies such as wet rice farming and bronze and iron metallurgy, as well as new pottery styles similar to those of the Mumun pottery period. The settlements of these new arrivals seem to have coexisted with those of the Jmon and Yayoi for around a thousand years.

Outside Hokkaido, the Final Jmon is succeeded by a new farming culture, the Yayoi (c. 300 BCE 300 CE), named after an archaeological site near Tokyo.

Within Hokkaido, the Jmon is succeeded by the Zoku-Jmon (post-Jmon) or Epi-Jmon period, which is in turn succeeded by the Satsumon culture around the 7th century.

Main periods

• Middle Jmon (35202470 BCE):
  • Katsusaka/Otamadai
  • Kasori E1
  • Kasori E2
• Late Jmon (24701250 BCE):
  • Horinouchi
  • Kasori B2,
  • Angyo 1
• Final Jmon (1250500 BCE):
  • Tohoku District
    • Oubora B
    • Oubora BC (funato, Iwate)
    • Oubora C1
    • Oubora C2
    • Oubora A
    • Oubora A'
  • Kanto District
    • Angyo 2 (Kawaguchi, Saitama)
    • Angyo 3

Population decline

At the end of the Jmon period the local population declined sharply. Scientists suggest that this was possibly caused because of food shortages and other environmental problems. They concluded that not all Jmon groups suffered under these circumstances but the overall population declined. Examining the remains of the people who lived throughout the Jmon period, there is evidence that these deaths were not inflicted by warfare or violence on a large enough scale to cause these deaths.

Foundation myths

The origin myths of Japanese civilization extend back to periods now regarded as part of the Jmon period, though they show little or no relation to the current archaeological understanding of Jmon culture. 11 February 660 BCE is the traditional founding date of the Japanese nation by Emperor Jimmu. This version of Japanese history, however, comes from the country's first written records, the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, dating from the 6th to the 8th centuries, after Japan had adopted Chinese characters (Go-on/Kan-on).

Some elements of modern Japanese culture may date from this period and reflect the influences of a mingled migration from the northern Asian continent and the southern Pacific areas and the Jmon peoples. Among these elements are the precursors to Shinto, some marriage customs, architectural styles, and technological developments such as lacquerware, laminated yumi, metalworking, and glass making.

Proposed origin

Overview

The relationship of Jmon people to the modern Japanese (Yamato people), Ryukyuans, and Ainu is diverse and not well clarified. Morphological studies of dental variation and genetic studies suggest that the Jmon people were of southern origin, while other studies of bacteria suggest that the Jmon people were of possible northern origin. According to recent studies the contemporary Japanese people descended from a mixture of the ancient hunter-gatherer Jmon and the Yayoi rice agriculturalists, and these two major ancestral groups came to Japan over different routes at different times. Recent studies however support a predominantly Yayoi ancestry for contemporary Japanese people.

The Jmon people were not one homogenous ethnic group. According to Mitsuru Sakitani the Jmon people are an admixture of two distinct haplogroups: A more ancient group from Central Asia (carriers of Ychromosome D1a), that were present since more than 35 000 years in Japan and a more recent group from East Asia (carriers of Ychromosome type C1a) that migrated to Japan about 13 000 years ago.Mark J. Hudson of Nishikyushu University posits that Japan was settled by a proto-Mongoloid population in the Pleistocene who became the Jmon, and that their features can be seen in the Ainu and Ryukyuan people. The Jmon share several physical characteristics, such as relatively abundant body hair, with Europeans, but they derive from a separate lineage than modern Europeans.

According to Schmidt & Seguchi (2013) the prehistoric Jmon people descended from a paleolithic populations of Siberia (Altai mountains region). Other cited scholars point out similarities between the Jmon and various paleolithic and Bronze Age Siberians. There were likely multiple migrations into ancient Japan.

A study by Lee and Hasegawa of the Waseda University, concluded that the Jmon period population consisted largely of a distinctive Paleolithic population from Central Asia and an ancient Northeast Asian population (Okhotsk people), with both arriving at different times during the Jmon period in Japan. According to them, the direct ancestors of the later Ainu people formed from the combination of these two distinct populations during the Jmon period in northern Hokkaido, long before the arrival of contemporary Japanese people. From there the ancestors of the Ainu-speakers expanded into large parts of Honshu and the Kurils. Lee and Hasegawa presented evidence that the Ainu language originated from the Northeast Asian/Okhotsk population, which established themselves in northern Hokkaido and had significant impact on the formation of the Jmon culture and ethnicities. They further concluded that the "dual structure theory" regarding the population history of Japan must be revised and that the Jmon people had more diversity than originally suggested.

Recent full genome analyses in 2020 by Boer et al. 2020 and Yang et al. 2020, reveals some further information regarding the origin of the Jmon peoples. They were found to have largely formed from a Paleolithic Siberian/Central Asian population and an East Asian-related population.

One study, published in the Cambridge University Press in 2020, suggests that the Jmon people were rather heterogeneous, and that there was also an Altaic-like pre-Yayoi population (close to modern Northeast Asians) in Jmon period Japan, which established itself over the local hunter gatherers. This Altaic-like population migrated from Northeast Asia in about 6000BC, before the actual Yayoi migration. The authors additionally note that Austronesian peoples were possibly present in southernmost Japan (Sakishima) before the arrival of the Yayoi people.

Genetics

Recent Y chromosome haplotype testing has led to the hypothesis that male haplogroups D-M55 and C1a1, which have been found in different percentages of samples of modern Japanese, Ryukyuan, and Ainu population, may reflect patrilineal descent from members of pre-Jmon and Jmon period of the Japanese Archipelago. Analysis of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of Jmon skeletons from Hokkaido, Okinawa Island and Thoku region indicates that haplogroups N9b and M7a may reflect maternal Jmon contribution to the modern Japanese mtDNA pool. In another study of ancient DNA published by the same authors in 2011, both the control and coding regions of mtDNA recovered from Jmon skeletons excavated from the northernmost island of Japan, Hokkaido, were analyzed in detail, and 54 mtDNA samples were confidently assigned to relevant haplogroups. Haplogroups N9b, D4h2, G1b, and M7a were observed in these individuals. According to 2013 study, there was mtDNA sub-haplogroups inter-regional heterogeneity within the Jmon people, specifically between studied Kant, Hokkaido and Thoku Jmon. According to 2011 study all major East Asian mtDNA lineages expanded before 10,000 YBP, except for two Japanese lineages D4b2b1 and M7a1a which population expanded around 7000 YBP unequivocally during the Jmon Period (142.3 kya), thousands of years before intensive agriculture which imply that the use of abundant uncultivated food resources was the reason for population expansion and not agriculture.

A study about ancient Jomon aDNA from Sanganji shell mound in Thoku region in 2017, estimates that the modern mainland Japanese population probably inherit less than 20% of their DNA from Jmon peoples' genomes. A genome research (Takahashi et al. 2019) shows that modern Japanese (Yamato) do not have much Jmon ancestry at all. Nuclear genome analysis of Jmon samples and modern Japanese samples show strong differences. Another recent estimate (Gakuhari et al. 2019) suggests about 9.8% Jmon ancestry in modern Japanese, and about 79.3% Jomon ancestry in the Ainu people. A study by Kanazawa-Kiriyama et al. (2019) suggests 913% Jomon ancestry in the modern Japanese and 27% in Ryukyuans (with the remainder in both being from the Yayoi people) and about 66% Jomon ancestry in the Ainu.

References

• Aikens, C. Melvin, and Takayasu Higuchi. (1982). Prehistory of Japan. Studies in Archaeology. New York: Academic Press. (main text 337 pages; Jomon text 92 pages) ISBN0-12-045280-4
• Habu, Junko (2004). Ancient Jomon of Japan. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Press. ISBN978-0-521-77670-7.
• Schirokauer, Conrad (2013). A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
• Silberman, Neil Asher (2012). The Oxford Companion to Archaeology. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Habu, Junko, "Subsistence-Settlement systems in intersite variability in the Moroiso Phase of the Early Jomon Period of Japan"
• Hudson, Mark J., Ruins of Identity: Ethnogenesis in the Japanese Islands, University of Hawai`i Press, 1999, ISBN0-8248-2156-4
• Imamura, Keiji, Prehistoric Japan, University of Hawai`i Press, 1996, ISBN0-8248-1852-0
• Kobayashi, Tatsuo. (2004). Jomon Reflections: Forager Life and Culture in the Prehistoric Japanese Archipelago. Ed. Simon Kaner with Oki Nakamura. Oxford, England: Oxbow Books. (main text 186 pages, all on Jomon) ISBN978-1-84217-088-5
• Koyama, Shuzo, and David Hurst Thomas (eds.). (1979). Affluent Foragers: Pacific Coasts East and West. Senri Ethnological Studies No. 9. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.
• Mason, Penelope E., with Donald Dinwiddie, History of Japanese art, 2nd edn 2005, Pearson Prentice Hall, ISBN0-13-117602-1, 9780131176027
• Michael, Henry N., "The Neolithic Age in Eastern Siberia." Henry N. Michael. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Ser., Vol. 48, No. 2 (1958), pp.1108. (laminated bow from Korekawa, Aomori)
• Mizoguchi, Koji, An Archaeological History of Japan: 10,000 B.C. to A.D. 700, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002, ISBN0-8122-3651-3
• Pearson, Richard J., Gina Lee Barnes, and Karl L. Hutterer (eds.). (1986). Windows on the Japanese Past: Studies in Archaeology and Prehistory. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan. (main text 496 pages; Jomon text 92 pages)
• Temple, DH (2007). "Stress and dietary variation among prehistoric Jomon foragers". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 133 (4): 10351046. doi:10.1002/ajpa.20645. PMID17554758.
• Temple, DH (2008). "What can stature variation reveal about environmental differences between prehistoric Jomon foragers? Understanding the impact of developmental stress on environmental stability". American Journal of Human Biology. 20 (4): 431439. doi:10.1002/ajhb.20756. PMID18348169. S2CID8905568.

External links

• BBC audio file (15 minutes). Discussion of Jomon pots. A History of the World in 100 Objects.
• Department of Asian Art. "Jomon Culture (ca. 10,500ca. 300 B.C.)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. (October 2002)
• Comprehensive Database of Archaeological Site Reports in Japan, the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties.
• Memory of the Jomon Period by The University Museum, The University of Tokyo
• The Prehistoric Archaeology of Japan by the Niigata Prefectural Museum of History
• Chronologies of the Jomon Period
• Jomon Culture by Professor Charles T Keally
• Yayoi Culture by Professor Charles T Keally