A new approach to prehistoric family systems from the viewpoint of pottery usage: Expanding the potential of archaeological information through contextual analysis

Abstract

Many studies analysing various artefacts to investigate prehistoric residence and descent rules have focused both on stages of production and final disposal. The stage of usage within artefact life-history has not received much attention. This study develops the methodology for elucidating habitual attitudes to ceramics during their use-life by analysing their depositional contexts in the Jomon period of prehistoric Japan. The ultimate aim is to contribute to the argument about prehistoric family systems. My research materials are the intentionally deposited pottery embedded within house floors from Middle Jomon settlements in the central part of Japan. To understand the context of deposition in detail, precise in-situ contextual information was acquired through collating pottery photographs from all directions taken after post-excavation cleaning with the existing context photographs taken during excavation. The results showed that (i) pottery function was converted from a utilitarian to a ritual constituent during its life-history; (ii) one of the large settlements showed a unique preference in orientation of the deposited pottery, determined by focusing on the originally discoloured part on its surface. These results allowed me to confirm that the preference emerged at the stage of usage prior to functional conversion. Then, based on the fact that several houses within the settlement overlapped each other, and also on the long-standing interpretation of Jomon housing in general that house extension would often follow childbirth, I suggested that (i) coeval houses numbered around five; (ii) the preference in orientation of pottery in daily life was transmitted within a household. I finally proposed the tentative hypotheses that (i) the residents of the settlement with such a unique orientation preference was matrilocal; (ii) inhabitants having the orientation preference in the settlement were relatives of the inhabitants of the house at other settlements who kept the same preference in orientation of the intentionally deposited pottery. This study contributes to the re-evaluation of the existing archaeological remains to elucidate a high-resolution event, as well as to discussions about family systems of the Jomon period in its culmination.