Jomon
From Freepedia
The Jomon period (Japanese: 縄文時代 Jōmon-jidai) is the time in Japanese history from about 10,000 BC to 300 BC.
On the basis of archaeological finds, it has been postulated that hominid activity in Japan may date as early as 200,000 BC, and maybe even 500,000 BC, when the islands were connected to the Asian mainland. Although some scholars doubt this early date for habitation, most agree that by around 40,000 BC glaciation had reconnected the islands with the mainland.
Based on archaeological evidence, they also agree that by between 35,000 BC and 30,000 BC Homo sapiens had migrated to the islands from eastern and southeastern Asia and had well-established patterns of hunting and gathering and stone toolmaking. Stone tools, inhabitation sites, and human fossils from this period have been found throughout all the islands of Japan. Additionally, a 1988 genetic study points to a Northern Mongoloid base for the Japanese peoples[1].
The term "Jomon" is a translation into Japanese of the English term "cord-marked." This refers to the markings made on clay vessels and figures using sticks with cords wrapped around them.
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Incipient and Initial Jomon (10000 - 4000 BC)
More stable living patterns gave rise by around 10,000 BC to a Mesolithic or, as some scholars argue, Neolithic culture. Possibly distant ancestors of the Ainu aboriginal people of modern Japan, members of the heterogeneous Jomon culture (c. 10,000-300 BC) left the clearest archaeological record.
According to archeological evidence, the Jomon people created the earliest pottery in the world, dated to the 11th millennium BC, as well as the earliest ground stone tools: "The earliest known pottery comes from Japan, and is dated to about 10,500 BC. China and Indo-China follow shortly afterwards" ("Past Worlds", The Times Atlas of Archeology). The antiquity of these potteries was first identified after the Second World War, through radiocarbon dating methods: "The earliest pottery, the linear applique type, was dated by radiocarbon methods taken on samples of carbonized material at 12500 +- 350 before present" (Prehistoric Japan, Keiji Imamura). The Jomon people were making clay figures and vessels decorated with patterns made by impressing the wet clay with braided or unbraided cord and sticks with a growing sophistication.
The manufacture of pottery typically implies some form of sedentary life, since pottery is highly breakable and therefore is useless to hunter-gatherers who are constantly on the move. Therefore the Jomon probably were some of the earliest sedentary or at least semi-sedentary people in the world. They used chipped stone tools, ground stone tools, traps, and bows and were probably semi-sedentary hunters-gatherers, and skillful coastal and deep-water fishermen. They practised a rudimentary form of agriculture and lived in caves and later in groups of either temporary shallow pit dwellings or above-ground houses, leaving rich kitchen middens for modern anthropological study. Because of this, the earliest forms of farming are sometimes attributed to Japan (Ingpen & Wilkinson) in 10,000 BC, two thousand years before their widespread appearance in the Middle East.
Early to Final Jomon (4000 - 400 BC)
The Early and Middle Jomon periods saw an explosion in population, as indicated by the number of excavations from this period. These two periods correspond to the prehistoric thermal optimum (between 4000 and 2000 BC), when temperatures reached several degrees Celsius higher than the present, and the seas were higher by 5 to 6 meters. Beautiful artistic realizations, such as highly decorated flamed vessels, remain from that time. After 1500 BC, the climate cooled, and populations seem to have contracted dramatically. Comparatively few archeological sites can be found after 1500 BC.
By the end of the Jomon period, a dramatic shift had taken place according to archaeological studies. Incipient cultivation had evolved into sophisticated rice-paddy farming and government control. Many other elements of Japanese culture also may date from this period and reflect a mingled migration from the northern Asian continent and the southern Pacific areas. Among these elements are Shinto mythology, marriage customs, architectural styles, and technological developments, such as lacquerware, textiles, metalworking, and glass making.
Foundation myths
The origins of Japanese civilization are buried in legend. February 11, 660 BC is the traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu. This, however, is a version of Japanese history from the country's first written records dating from the 6th to the 8th centuries, after Japan had adopted the Chinese writing system which was introduced by the Koreans.
According to the creation story found in the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters, dating from AD 712) and the Nihongi or Nihon-shoki (Chronicle of Japan, from AD 720), the Japanese islands were created by the gods, two of whom--the male Izanagi and the female Izanami--descended from heaven to carry out the task. They also brought into being other kami (deities or supernatural forces), such as those influencing the sea, rivers, wind, woods, and mountains. Two of these deities, the sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami, and her brother, the storm god Susanoo, warred against each other, with Amaterasu emerging victorious.
In this period several emperors were struggling for power. In order to make legitimate their claims to the throne, they commissioned collections of poems containing a mythological inheritance of power from Amaterasu (still the most venerable deity in the Shinto pantheon) via her grandson Ninigi-no-Mikoto to Emperor Jimmu, who was claimed to be an ancestor of the ruling imperial family. This propaganda-myth was taken up again by 19th century historians and used as a fundamental pillar of Japan's nationalistic Kokutai ideology.
More reliable are Chinese sources, which describe a country "Wa" ruled by various family-clans, adhering to their respective clan-deities. Recent anthropological studies suggest immigration from Siberia via Korea and/or Polynesia to be the ancestors of the earliest settlers in Japan.
List of Jomon periods
Incipient Jomon (10000 - 7500 BC):
- Linear applique,
- Nail impression,
- Cord impression,
- Muroya lower.
Initial Jomon (7500 - 4000 BC):
Early Jomon (4000 - 3000 BC):
Middle Jomon (3000 - 2000 BC):
Late Jomon (2000 - 1000 BC):
- Horinouchi,
- Kasori B1,
- Kasori B2,
- Angyo 1.
Final Jomon (1000 - 400 BC):
References
- This article incorporates public domain text from the Library of Congress Country Studies. - Japan
- Prehistoric Japan, by Keiji Imamura, University of Hawai Press, 1996, ISBN 0824818520
- Subsitence-Settlement systems in intersite variability in the Moroiso Phase of the Early Jomon Period of Japan, Junko Habu, 2001, ISBN 1879621320
- Encyclopedia of Ideas that changed the World, Robert Ingpen and Philip Wilkinson, 1993, ISBN 0670846422
External Link
- Jomon pottery at Current World Archaeology
- Jomon Japan at jomonjapan.org
- EMuseum at Minnesota State University, Mankato The Paleolithic Period/Jomon Period
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