Lifeways/ Conclusion

Lifeways 

This is a replica of a Jomon canoe. Source

Lifeways; this includes anything that has to do with the way Jomon people lived their lives. You may be asking yourself, 'how do lifeways connect to shell mounds and complexity?' Well, turns out that a lot of activities that were carried out by the Jomon tied back to shell mounds, such as sea faring and shellfish collection, which can imply a complex system of subsistence and ecological exploitation.

"Skeletal remains from shell middens provided early physical anthropologists with invaluable information to investigate the population history and lifeways of prehistoric people on the Japanese islands" (Habu 19). Something we have not talked about in this blog is the importance of human remains also found in these mounds. Yes, the Jomon and most societies linked with shell mounds also used the shell mounds as a burial place. This practice itself is part of the Jomon lifeway.

So Why did the Jomon not Adopt Agriculture?

As I have demonstrated through the focus on shell mounds, the Jomon simply lived in a rich environment that never required them to focus on agriculture:

"Agriculture did not develop in Japan because no Japanese species were able to so command the attention of Jomon communities that they stopped fishing, hunting, and harvesting other resources available to them. Given its wonderful archeological record, Jomon Japan is a good place to observe how hunter-gatherers could engineer ecosystems" (Matsui 367).   

In short, no important species involved in the Jomon subsistence/diet ever went extinct or they simply had so many choices they could not have possibly driven a single species into extinction. Many times around the world we see cases of societies running species into extinction, forcing them to focus on other resources. Perhaps the Jomon were good about taking care of their environment. It should be clear that the Jomon were clearly a complex society and that the absence of agriculture did not seem to have affected their evolution. 

I hope you have a bit about Jomon shell mounds, subsistence, material culture and the lifeways of the Jomon. Thank you for reading my blog.

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.

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.

Complexity in the Jomon and Subsistence

How then, were the Jomon complex? And how can we possibly learn this through the study of shell mounds? "Because shell middens were easily identified through surface surveys, archaeologists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries focused their primary research efforts on shell midden sites" (Habu 19). Thanks to the early identification of shell mounds, much of what we know about the Jomon today has been possible.

I will divide the Jomon complexity into 3 parts that can be examined in shell mounds: 1) Subsistence 2) Material Culture 3) Lifeways.

Subsistence

The definition for subsisting given by dictionary.com is as follows: "To remain alive: live; as on food, resources, etc." Food and resources is exactly what I want to focus on in terms of subsistence, and how we can see this in the mounds.

What can shell mounds tell us about the Jomon subsistence?

Here we can identify the four regions that Habu talks about. This picture is included in the article.

Habu in her article, Shell midden archaeology in Japan: Aquatic food acquisition and long-term change in the Jomon culture, divides Japan into four regions (1. Tohoku 2. Kanto 3. Chubu and 4. Western Japan) and examines middens from each region to tell us a little something about the Jomon subsistence patterns. I will use her paper to examine how shell mounds can show us the complex style of subsistence the Jomon practiced.

It is important to mention that there are middens all across of Japan, including inland. Some of the Jomon mounds are found inland, away from seashores, suggests that these people may have not had the same accessibility to sea resources. "The excavation of the Nakasawame shell midden, a freshwater shell midden in Miyagi Prefecture (Late-Final Jomon) is a good example of an application of this excavation method. The results indicate that subsistence activities focused on freshwater resources, including freshwater mussel, Japanese mystery snail, carp, and catfish" (Habu 20). This is an example of a mound that was found inland, and we can see a wide variety of resources being exploited by these Jomon. Although this site is located inland, we can still see a visible use of fish. This speaks volume to not only the resources being used by the Jomon, but also to possible material culture being used, such as fishing nets and wooden canoes; which we will talk about in a later post.

"Archaeologists who analyzed the Awazu data concluded that the alternate layers represent seasonal cycles of subsistence activities by the Middle Jomon residents of this site: intensive shellfish collecting and fishing in the spring to early summer, and nut collecting in the fall. Judging from the evidence of intensive food-processing activities and scarcity of pottery and other artifacts, it is likely that Midden No. 3 was a seasonal laboring site" (Habu 24).

Here Habu is referring to the Awazy site which is located in Western Japan. It represents the importance of shell mounds in a nutshell. It doesn't only tell us what the Jomon were eating, but what they were doing in different seasons. This specific midden tells us that during the spring the Jomon in this region focused on collection of marine resources and perhaps shifted to inland resources such as nuts during the fall.

"Shell middens on the Japan sea coast are characterized by abalone, while those in the other regions yield surf clams, oysters, and common brackish-water shellfish such as Corbicula japonica. Along with harpoon heads of the closed socket type that were carried over from the Okhotsk period for large mammal hunting..." (Okada 346). Here we can also see that the Jomon hunted large mammals which are found more inland, away from the coasts. This goes back to the fact that the Jomon had various resources to exploit throughout the year, which is a good reason they never had the need to switch to agriculture.

"Data from Natsushima, Mazukari and other Initial Jomon shell mounds indicate that intensive exploitation of marine shellfish in Honshu go back to ca. 8000-7000 BC. This timing corresponds to the transition from highly mobile generalists of the Incipient Jomon period to more sedentary specialists or collectors of the Early Jomon period" (Habu 25). Through the study of shell mounds, archaeologists can make statements like the one above.  The number one hint about subsistence practices comes from faunal remains found in shell mounds. “Faunal remains are rare in most nonshell midden Jomon sites” (Bleed). I believe that if it wasn't for these precious shell mounds, much of what we know today about the Jomon culture, would not be possibly comprehensible without them.

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.

 Okada, Atsuko. Maritime Adaptations in Hokkaido. Artic Anthropology 1998 Vol. 35 No. 1 p340-349

Bleed, Peter. Falk, Carl. Bleed, Ann and Matsui, Akira. Between the Mountains and the Sea: Optimal Hunting Patterns and Faunal Remains at Yagi, an early Jomon Community in Southwestern Hokkaido. Artic Anthropology 1989 Vol. 26 No. 2 p107-126.

Absence of Agriculture in the Jomon

Archaeologists outside of Japan, have not taken much interest in the Jomon culture, something that Professor Junko Habu, one of the leading Japanese arcaheologists and a professor here at UC Berkeley whom I had the chance to take last semester (Spring 2012), stressed throughout the course of the semester. Matsui explains why, "The very long persistence of foraging lifestyles has made the Jomon cultures seem irrelevant to one of the most important points of dicussion in modern archaeology, the processes that gave rise to agriculture" (Matsui 357). Matsui also mentions that the Jomon persistence on foraging continued until wet rice agriculture was introduced from continental Asia about 2500 B.P., much later than other societies began experimenting with agriculture and domestication. So, the lack of agriculture in the Jomon culture has turned off archaeologists around the world. But as we discussed in Professor Maher's lectures on complexity, there is not single path to complexity and a society does not need to meet all the criteria that has been put forth by Western archaeologists. Also, I believe that the lack of agriculture does not mean that a society is therefore not complex. I believe that societies who did not experiment with agriculture but at the same time had complex economies, ways of interacting with the environment, complex material culture such as pottery or basketry, were semi or fully sedentary and took advantage of different ecological niches; did not have a need to experiment with agriculture. "...Every part of Japan offered Jomon communitites fairly solid resources in all parts of the year. And large-scale seasonal movement was not necessary... They lived in a zone that could support them as sedentary collectors" (Matusi 359). The Jomon simply lived in a rich environment where they could use different resources throughout the whole year while being able to live a sedentary life. Where as societies linked with agriculture, may have gone through challenges with their environment that may have forced them into agriculture.

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

Intro to the Jomon

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Most of you might not be familiar with the Jomon cultures of Japan. Thus before moving to specifically talk about Jomon shell mounds; this post will focus on giving you a general background of who the Jomon people were.

Japan in particular is the leading country in the world in terms of archaeological work. The Japanese people have taken a huge interest in their past, thus resulting in a great awareness for archaeological work and a bunch of archeological sites. For instance, Matsui argues that, “Research on Jomon sites has extended over nearly 150 years, involving thousands of excavations and resulting in a vast amount of literature.” (356) Given this, there is a tremendous amount of work that has been published on the Jomon. Thus anyone can easily access more information about them by simply making a quick search online.

The Jomon era began near the end of the Pleistocene and represents more than 12,000 years of the Japanese past (Matsui). The Jomon period is split up into 6 periods. The first being the Incipient Jomon period which is the last period to be recognized and also the one which is less completely understood. The Incipient period is also where one starts seeing the beginning of basic Jomon patterns. The rest are the Initial, Early, Middle, Late and Final periods (Matsui). As discussed by Akira Matsui in the article, Why Didn't Agriculture Develop in Japan? A consideration of Jomon Ecological Style, Niche Construction, and the Origins of Domestication, "Each of the periods is further subdivided into finer units associated with distinctive ceramic assemblages... The Jomon era can be divided into blocks of a few centuries or much less... The material diversity of the Jomon era must mean that it was ethnically diverse and complex in human terms" (358). As it was discussed in Professor Maher's lecture on October 19, 2012, the Jomon people are known for their early and distinctively beautiful pottery. Something else to take from this quote is the fact that Jomon Japan did not have a single cultural entity. One can think of Jomon Japan as a modern country, say Mexico, who are all part of a huge Mexican culture. Within Mexico though, Mexicans throughout the country have a different style of cooking or listen to different music. Just in this way, the Jomon throughout Japan all had distinct regions and forms of making pottery; which was constantly changing. It turns out that pottery is one of the features that makes the Jomon society "complex." As we will discuss later, other aspects of the Jomon culture made them a complex society, but a different type of complex as you find in other parts of Asia and Europe; as the tittle of the article mentioned above states, agriculture, which is a key feature that archaeologists look for when assessing if a society is complex; was not developed in Jomon Japan.

Now that we have a sense of who the Jomon people are and their chronology, we will move on to talk about shell mounds and their implications to this subject of complexity.

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.

Welcome!

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. This blog is dedicated to the shell mounds (sometimes called middens) of the Jomon period in Japan. I will focus on what these mounds can tell us about the lifestyles carried by the Jomon people who are linked to these sites and hopefully paint a bigger picture of the Jomon culture as a whole. Enjoy!