Chiefly exchange between Kyushu and Okinawa, Japan, in the Yayoi period

Abstract

Introduction During the Yayoi Period of Japan (approximately 300 BC to 300 AD) tropical shell bracelets appear in elite burials in Kyushu (FIGURE 1) .In this paper I discuss recent investigations which indicate that these shells were produced in Okinawa, some 500 km. to the southwest of Kyushu, and were exchanged for Yayoi pottery vessels and possibly other artefacts. The context of this exchange system and the implications for Japanese prehistory are also considered.