Material Culture

Material Culture

Source

When I refer to "material culture," I'm referring to objects that were manmade for a purpose such as basketry, pottery or tools. Anything that involved innovation and specialization, not only of craftsmanship but also the alteration of certain resources to create objects necessary for daily life. "During the 1920s and 1930s, many of these shell middens became type sites for establishing Jomon chronological framework on the basis of pottery typology" (Habu 19). Pottery as Habu mentions, was essential to helping create a Jomon chronology. This demonstrates that without the preservation of material culture in these middens, which are exceptionally excellent to preservation, we might not have such a clear picture on the Jomon chronology.

"The Initial Jomon middens at Higashi-Myo in Saga City and Awazu on the bottom of Lake Biwa show that from the very beginnings, bags and large baskets, well-suited for assembling masses of unprocessed materials, were an element of Jomon material culture" (Matsui 362). This particular example doesn't only give us clues to what the Jomon were doing with the baskets and bags, but it actually gives us proof that they were complex enough to create such things as baskets and bags. This connects how important middens are to understanding Jomon material culture and how it proves that the Jomon were a complex society. "At Higashi-Myo, sealed below saturated clay marine sediments dating from before 7000 B.P., more than 500 baskets and woven artifacts were found" (Matsui 363). Here we can see that as early as 7000 years ago, the Jomon were using basketry. And they are being found in large amounts, which suggests a concentration on the production of these items which could hint to social and economic complexity.

The Jomon were also known for being good wood workers, "Dugout canoes, bow staves, tool handles, and other carved or bent objects recovered from several sites indicate that Jomon people had a rich woodworking technology" (Matsui 363). One very important use of these wood is the creation of canoes. Canoes were of course use at sea and perhaps in rivers (which is not that probable since the use of fishing nets and fish weirs would have been much easier in these river/lake areas). The use of canoes could have been much more helpful in terms of marine resources and shellfish collection. These items were then brought back on shore and were processed on the seashore; producing these shell mounds which are filled with information not only about material culture but as we have learned, Jomon subsistence.

"Starting at least by the Early Jomon period, lacquer was used to finish and decorate objects of wood, fiber and ceramics. Lacquering is an intrinsically complex task since it involves the use of the sap of Rhus verniciflua- poison oak. Only individuals who have worked long enough with the sap to overcome the natural reaction to its toxicity can do this work, so lacquer artifacts must reflect social and economic complexity" (Matsui 364).

If you wanted to decorate your canoe back in the Early Jomon period, it most likely required the use of sap. Not just anyone could use this poisonous oak, they had to take it to someone who most likely was a specialist. This can be proof of complexity, that can be seen through the material culture, which is constantly found in these shell mounds. 

Akira Matsui. Why Didn’t Agriculture Develop in Japan? A Consideration of Jomon Ecological Style, Niche Construction, and the Origins of Domestication. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. 2010.

Habu, Junko., Akira, Matsui., Yamamoto, Naoto., Kanno, Tomonori. Shell midden archaeology in Japan: Aquatic food acquisition and long-term change in the Jomon culture. Quaternary International 2011 Vol. 239 p19-27.