The dispersal of domesticated plants into north-eastern Japan

Abstract

The origin and dispersal of domesticated plants has long been a focus of archaeological research, and become an important aspect of palaeoethno-botanical studies. This chapter provides a brief review of the evidence for Jomon cultigens, emphasizing the Tohoku region of north-eastern Japan. Unequivocal evidence for domesticated plants in the Middle Jomon is known from central and north-eastern Japan. In particular, the Kazahari data indicate that the arrival of rice as a domesticate and Yayoi wet-rice paddy technology represent two separate events. The relationship between increased sedentism and the appearance of several domesticates during the Early Jomon should be further investigated. Minnis has argued that the introduction of Mesoamerican domesticates to Late Archaic populations of the south-western United States did not result in major changes in economy or sociocultural frameworks. Over the past several years, archaeobotanical research in north-eastern Japan has demonstrated the presence of buckwheat, millets, rice, and several other domesticates in Jomon contexts.