Elucidation of regional characteristics in the Jōmon period tomb system in northern Japan and re-examination of its social and symbolic meaning: Estimating the Jōmon period population in the northern part of Tohoku and analysing the relationship between population changes and changes in rituals and grave systems

Abstract

The Jōmon period is a time in Japanese history between 14000 to 300 BCE, however to 900 BCE in western Japan. Understanding more about Jōmon society may provide unique insights into modern day societies. Assistant Professor Oki Nakamura, Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization, Japan, has been conducting research on the Jōmon era for more than 30 years. Rituals formed a more significant part of culture during the Jōmon period, and it is this that forms the foundations of Nakamura's research. In order to understand how the size of a population influenced changes in rituals, Nakamura is working to develop a method to accurately predict the population that existed during the Jōmon era and the changes it underwent. His novel approach involves extrapolating existing knowledge of the number of buildings from that time and using this to calculate an approximate population. The methodologies that Nakamura has developed can be applied to Japanese prehistory and the prehistory of humankind across the globe. In his latest project, Nakamura is working to interpret meanings of burial customs and explain why burial customs changed over time. This work involves considering regional differences in archaeological remains and will show the importance of regional scale in interpreting the social meanings of burial customs.