Chapter 6

This is a a summary of Chapter 7 of Habu Jinko, "Ancient Jomon of Japan", Cambridge Press, 2004. It is not meant to be an original work (although it is written in my own words), but merely to sum up the information found in the part described and serve as reference for further research. This is part of my work towards a comprehensive, original article on Jomon culture

Based on classical Marxist theories, long dominant in post-war Japan, the Jomon is an egalitarian society, its properity being a result of the increase of the forces of production (i.e. population increase). Therefore the growth from Incipient to Middle Jomon is progressist, while the decrease of the number of sites afterwards shows that the population increase would have overtaxed the environment. The economy was considered self-sufficient, trade reflecting only a small surplus. Overall, the Jomon culture was pictured as neolithic-like, egalitarian and sedentary

Incipient Jomon: One of the key factors that may explain the shift from Late Paleolithic to Incipient Jomon could be the change in flora and fauna, in particular the disappearance of large terrestrial mammals from around 15,000 BC calibrated, which would have triggered a reorganization of subsistence patterns; changes in lithic assemblages seem to have accompagnied the transition from Paleolithic to Jomon. The Odai Yamoto I site, with its projectile points and its plain pottery in the third stage layer dated circa 14,500 - 13,100 BC calibrated, marks the beginning of the Jomon culture. The next stage, always at Odai Yamoto I, is characterized by tanged bifacial points usually associated with linear relief pottery (13,350 - 11,450 BC calibrated); however, typical lithic assemblages and linked pottery don't necessarily go hand in hand in all regions. This period was probably closer to the forager model, with sites either open or in caves, with little to no evidence of more permanent structures, suggesting high mobility. Even if pottery is an indication of increased dependance on plant food, actual quantities must have been relatively small in Honshu and Shikoku; however, in and around Kyushu, the importance of plant food is evident from teh beginning of Incipient Jomon onwards

Initial Jomon: It appears that the Jomon culture gets closer to the collector model during the Initial Jomon period. Shell-middens make an appearance, and their remains reveal an increase of smaller mammals, fish and shellfish and plants in the diet. The Jomon people may be one of the earliest to eploit marine resources systematically, even if it was never staple food except maybe during the Late Jomon in specific areas. Settlements seem to have been still rare, with few pit dwellings and even less storage pits, except in Hokkaido and Kyushu, where ceremonial items were also found

Early Jomon: The Initial Jomon people were what is called "serial foragers" - they moved seasonally in regard of specific resources and are considered specialits. The development of storage technics at the beginning of the Early Jomon must have helped the transition towards a less mobile system; evidence of a collector lifestyle include larger and more specialized settlements and an increase of ceremonial artefacts. That being said, these settlements probably weren't fully sedentary and, at the end of the Early Jomon, it is possible that there were also populations closer to the forager system. All those developments go alongside ceremonial and trade ones, which shows that the changes during that period must have been profound, probably including greater differenciation between people and between settlements. These changes are mostly evident in Eastern Japan

Middle Jomon: This period is marked by a greater number of large settlements, heavily decorated pottery, increase in trade and greater reliance on plant food, always in Eastern Japan. All this suggests that the Middle Jomon saw the establishement of a more complex system than the Early Jomon; however, there's little evidence of vertical social differenciation. It appears that all this comes to an end by the later stages of the Middle Jomon. It is not known for sure what triggered that change, although scholars hae suggested a cooler climate; Habu proposes that the high specialization would have made the system more susceptible to even minor environmental changes - again, this apply to Eastern Japan mostly

Late Jomon: There was a decrease of in organizational complexity (i.e. in the number of large sites and density of sites) paralleled by an increase in social complexity. Moreover, the system probably remained closer to the collector model. Evidence of increased social complexity include an increase of the number of ceremonial structures and artefacts, a more conspicuous long-distance trade, an increase of child burials with grave goods and a specialized production of refined pottery and other items; it seems though that this vertical stratification was limited and found its origins in the Middle Jomon, but was limited by the settlements system evolution. Habu suggests that the importance of the role of the leader must have increased with the collapse of the highly specialized systems, increasing verticality but, because resources declined, it made its manipulation by elites more difficult. Meanwhile, Western Japan presented a different picture with a continuous increase in the number of sites, maybe because, being less specialized, they were less subject to environmental fluctuations

Final Jomon: Japan saw a lot of changes occur under the influence of the Mumun culture from Korea, starting in Northern Kyushu with the appearance of structures like dolmens and rice padd fields. This transition phase, which some argue could be labelled Initial Yayoi dates back to 500-300 BC; from there it started to spread east, with Eastern Japan reaching that same phase around 100 BC. It is to be noted that these dates are subject to controversy and that dates as early as 1,000-900 BC have been suggested for the same period in Northern Kyushu. There have been also suggestions of large-scale immigration from Korea, based on demographical datas, but it hasn't been possible to indentify the reasons behind such a move. It is to be noted that very few settlements with pit dwellings, but many ceremonial sites were recovered in Eastern Japan. However, because there's strong stylistic continuity into the Yayoi, it seems very unlikely that the population just died out; Habu suggests that either settlements were relocated in the mountains where far less archaeological research has been performed, or the Final Jomon lasted less that the circa 1,000 years (1,300-100 BC) suggested until now. Overall, little is known about the period in Eastern Japan; changes from the Late Jomon may be explained by climatic changes or the difference with the continental-influenced Western Japan, which would have lead to a major restrocturation in the region