Hunting or management? The status of Sus in the Jomon period in Japan

Abstract

This study focuses on Japanese Sus and their relationships with humans during the Jomon period. Since pig (Sus scrofa f. domestica) is the only domestic ungulate species of which the wild progenitor (Sus scrofa) naturally inhabits Japan, the relationship of Sus and humans, including possible local domestication in the Japanese archipelago, is one of the major issues in archaeozoological studies in Japan. There are two subspecies of wild boar in Japan, Ryukyu wild boar (S. scrofa riukiuanus) and Japanese wild boar (S. scrofa leucomystax). Today the former subspecies inhabits the Amami-Ohshima, Tokunoshima, Okinawa, Ishigaki, and Iriomote islands of the Ryukyu archipelago and the latter the main islands of the Japanese archipelago (Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, but not Hokkaido). Our study deals with the latter subspecies, the Japanese wild boar. The primary aim is to examine and compile data on the regional and temporal variation of the size of the Japanese wild boar during the Jomon period, and of kill-off patterns. This, we think, is necessary for discussing whether or not a domestication process was underway during the Jomon period. Information on the variation within the wild boar population during the Jomon period also helps to evaluate the domestic or wild status of Sus remains from the later Yayoi Period (c.2700–1700 BP). The Jomon period lasted about 10,000 years, from 13000 to 2500 cal. BP, and, based on pottery types and styles, is divided into six phases: Incipient, Earliest, Early, Middle, Late, and Final. The subsistence economy during the Jomon period was primarily based on hunting and gathering, but it has been argued that some form of incipient plant cultivation was already practiced at least from the Early Jomon period, possibly even from the Incipient Jomon period on (e.g. Matsumoto 1979; Kasahara 1981; Umemoto & Moriwaki 1983; Habu 2001). Also, an increasing degree of sedentism is observed in central and eastern Japan from the Middle Jomon period on. Pottery was used from the beginning of the Jomon period. Jomon culture is also characterized by exquisite wood craftsmanship, as represented by lacquer ware found at some waterlogged sites.