Ethnoarchaeology of Introducing Agriculture and Social Continuity among Sedentarised Hunter–Gatherers: The Transition from the Jomon to the Yayoi Period

Kazunobu Ikeya

doi:10.3390/quat4030028

Abstract

This study was conducted to elucidate the introduction of agriculture and social continuity from the Jomon to the Yayoi period, from an ethnoarchaeological perspective. The Yayoi period has been divided into two types: a broad spectrum economy that relied on many kinds of resources, such as rice, millet, and nuts, and a selective economy that specialised in rice and wild boar. However, it is not clear how the livelihoods shifted from the Jomon to the Yayoi period. In this study, ethnohistorical materials were examined first. Ethnohistorical reference materials gathered worldwide have revealed three relationships between hunter–gatherers and farmers: coexistence, fusion, and assimilation. Focusing on fusion, this study examined situations of hunting, gathering, and fishing, as inferred from ruins of the Late and Final Jomon period, and assessed their relationships with agriculture using ethnohistorical reference materials of the Early Edo period. There were not many social changes caused by the introduction of field farming; however, the introduction of paddy rice cultivation had different effects on society depending on the level of investment in obtaining water from streams and springs and creating irrigation features.

Highlights

Introduction and Study LocationPrehistoric hunter–gatherers who became sedentarised in western Asia are said to have begun farming and raising livestock more than 10,000 years ago [1]
There were not many social changes caused by the introduction of field farming; the introduction of paddy rice cultivation had different effects on society depending on the level of investment in obtaining water from streams and springs and creating irrigation features
In the case of the Japanese archipelago, a large shift is known to have occurred from prehistoric hunter–gatherers (Jomon people using Jomon earthenware, [4,5]) to prehistoric agricultural farmers (Yayoi people using Yayoi earthenware) except in Hokkaido

Summary

Introduction and Study Location

Prehistoric hunter–gatherers who became sedentarised in western Asia are said to have begun farming and raising livestock more than 10,000 years ago [1]. Yayoi period but show the influence of the introduction of paddy rice cultivation on a hunter–gatherer society This is due to the fact that there is abundant information on livelihoods such as hunting, gathering, and farming in the Matagi settlements, which are located in almost the same locations as the Jomon sites. The author conducted an ethnoarchaeological study on the use of people’s natural resources in a remote mountain village called a Matagi settlement [14], which possesses both historical sites of the Late and Final Jomon periods, and archival materials on paddy rice cultivation or swidden agriculture in the 17th century. Based on theFor example ofahunter–gatherers in hunter–gatherer would marry a farmer, combine hunting, gathering, and farming, and use the Kalahari Desert, group size and population caused this variation, because In the Kalahari Desert, group size and population caused this variation, because Kgalagadi farmers migrated inside the hunter–gatherers’ territory in the 18th century [18]

Dynamic model of relationships between hunter-gatherers andand farmers:

From Sedentarised Hunter-Gatherers to Early Farmers

Combined

Distribution

Occupation calendar of the settlement

Results and Discussion