Cord Impressed Ware and rice cultivation in South Asia, China and Japan: possibilities of inter-links

Abstract

Core Impressed Ware, named because it has cord-impressed decorations on the outer surfaces, is commonly associated with all early rice growing regions of Asia. Archaeological, ethnographic and linguistic data indicate possible interlinks among Cord Impressed pottery and early rice growing regions. Pottery making is far older than agriculture in East Asia. In Japan, Cord Impressed Pottery is associated with the Jomon culture and has now been dated to 13,000 BP. A large number of early rice cultivation sites scattered throughout southeastern coastal China, in the Yangtze Valley, and in Southern China have also yielded Cord-Impressed ware. Archaeological sites in Indochina, the Ganga Valley, the Vindhya, eastern and northeastern India, and in the Himalayas also contain abundant evidence of rice cultivation and Cord-Impressed Ware. The central position of rice in cultures throughout southern and eastern Asia has great antiquity, reflecting both the nutritional value of rice and its long history of cultivation. Linguistic data, in combination with rituals and festivals associated with rice, mirror the original spread of cultivation, and parallel the distribution of Cord-Impressed Ware. Rituals, festivals and agricultural rites associated with rice, are prevalent in early rice growing regions of Asia. The myths of the origin of rice in distant regions have striking similarities, indicating some interlinks. The varied rituals and incredible respect for the cereal perhaps indicate remote antiquity. Hence, Cord Impressed Ware, early dates for rice cultivation in different regions, linguistic data and similarity of agricultural rites, rituals, and festivals, and deep respect for rice all point towards remote antiquity in India and strong inter-links among China, Japan and India over millennia.