Flake scar patterns of Japanese tanged points: toward an understanding of technological variability during the Incipient Jomon

Abstract

Tanged points have long been considered an important proxy for cultural variability during the Incipient Jomon period of Japan. Historically, interpretations of cultural variability based on tanged points have relied entirely on studies of tang morphology. However, little attention has been paid to technological variation, which is a stronger indicator of culturally learned behavior than are morphological typologies. This paper describes ongoing research of flake scar orientation on tanged points produced by the oblique parallel pressure flaking (OPPF) technique from the Incipient Jomon. The results indicate that there is a highly significant, geographically patterned technological variation of such points. OPPF points from the south of Japan are exclusively flaked from the upper right to the lower left (URLL), while points from the north are almost always flaked from the upper left to the lower right (ULLR). Experimental research by the author and others suggests that this variation may indicate the adoption of different pressure flaking techniques in these two regions. If one considers the diversity of the flake scar patterns as an indicator of isochrestic variation in the Incipient Jomon period, the people of both regions appear to have had different culturally conditioned techniques of pressure flaking. This suggests that they did not adopt the same traditional rules concerning pressure flaking, nor did they have identical cultural behavior.