会誌『考古学研究』

Abstract: This study attempts to investigate the way of reconstructing Jomon society using skeletal remains, in which cultural traces seen in those remains such as ritual tooth ablation are included. Re-examination of previous osteo-archaeological studies reconstructing Jomon kinship and social organization indicates the followings: (1) Societies of Kanto area during the Late Jomon and those of western part of the archipelago during the Final Jomon period are thought to be based on bilateral kinship mainly from the results of tooth crown analysis and mt-DNA; (2) Results of tooth crown analysis uncovered that the disarticulated skeletal remains re-buried in a same pit included several kin groups. Based on these results, this kind of mortuary practice has significance for reconstructing part of the social principles organizing Jomon society; (3) Each burial subunit within a communal cemetery is thought to be constituted by member of a clan or its segment; (4) Burial subunits in a central cemetery are constituted by representative persons of the decent group/clan. In addition to these points, the results of ritual tooth ablation indicate that: (5) there are various kinds of sodality integrating the local society of Final Jomon period; and that (6) the social significance of those various sodalities are different in each societies in accordance with the regional contexts surrounding them.

Keywords:  Jomon society; skeletal remain; kinship; society; ritual tooth ablation.

Abstract:  Secondary burial practices as a part of ancestral ritual give us clues to understand prehistoric kinship systems. As for the Jomon period, a matrilineal society has been reconstructed from MtDNA analysis of the bones excavated from a pit for secondary burial at Nakazuma Shell midden, Chiba prefecture. However, I argue that it is also possible to reconstruct a bilateral kinship system with a strong patrilineal tendency. Increased hunting activity in the Late and Final Jomon period prompted a shift towards a patrilineal kinship system. In the Yayoi period, bones of a man and a woman were buried in a pot for secondary burial at Tenjinmae site, Chiba prefecture. They may be related by blood if we assume that the burial rule of the Final Jomon period that avoids a married couple being buried together was inherited. On the other hand, paired burials of probable married couples became prominent and the patrilineal kinship system intensified in northern Kyushu of the same period due to an influence from the continent. The influence also spreads to eastern Japan where the sex of clay figurines, which used to be exclusively women in the Jomon period, changed to a pair of man and woman in the Yayoi period. Thus we may not exclude the possibility that the bones from Tenjinmae site were those of a married couple.

Keywords:  Jomon and Yayoi period; secondary burial; ancestral ritual; descent rule; kinship system.

Abstract:  It is becoming increasingly evident in eastern Hokkaido that the structures called“ground houses”(houses built on the ground with posts) coexisted with pit houses particularly in settlements which have Hokuto type pottery from late Middle to early Late Jomon period. Although little artifacts demonstrate when these houses were built exactly, radiocarbon dating is available because they are often burnt.
　Carbonated timbers of these houses from late Middle to early Late Jomon period date back to 3920-3675 14CBP. The author examines the relation between this measurement and typological sequences of pottery to confirm that the transition from the Middle to the Late Jomon period was around 3850 14CBP (2450-2300 Cal BC), coincided with the end of Daigi 10 type pottery in northern Tohoku district.
　Ground houses in eastern Hokkaido occurred simultaneously with disorganization of large settlements and appearance of regionality in pottery through eastern Japan. In this context, it is noticeable that the number of ground houses increased only in a spatially limited part of the distribution area of Hokuto type pottery.

Keywords:  Ground houses; burnt houses; radiocarbon dating; typological sequence of pottery; calibrated dating.

Abstract:  In this paper I present analysis of Korean style earthenware and locally produced haji ware from the middle Kofun period (5th century) in Japan to elucidate that various recipient processes of the former types of pottery can be seen among the settlements where archaeological evidence of immigrants from the Korean peninsula clearly exists. I posit that the difference in the recipient processes are related to the nature of intergroup relationships between immigrants and local people.

Keywords:  Middle Kofun period; Korean style earthenware; haji ware; immigrants; intergroup relationships.

Abstract: This paper discussed transitional process from Paleolithic to Jomon period through examin-ing residential mobility of prehistoric hunter-gatherers.
　It is generally supposed that the transition was induced in response to climate change at the late Pleistocene. The earliest stage of the Jomon period is named Incipient Jomon and divided into three phases; phase 1, phase 2, and phase 3, which respectively correspond to the Oldest Dryas and earlier, the Bolling and Allerod, and the Younger Dryas.
　The author analyzed stone resource consumption at each site, and elucidated drastic changes in their mobility as follows. While prehistoric hunter-gatherers frequently moved their residential bases over a vast area until phase 1, they started to move them within extremely limited area in phase 2. Moreover, they came to spend much longer time at every residential base in phase 3, although regularly moving it across distant areas.

Keywords: Burial mounds; mound height; slope angle; stone paving.

Abstract:  This article discusses the absolute dating of iron swords with decorative metal fittings in ancient Japan through a comparative analysis of chronological change for these items and the period when clustered mounded tombs increased. As a result, the author concludes that the inscription of the boshin year of the sexagenary cycle on the iron sword from the Midani No. 2 tomb corresponds to 668, and can be used as a pivotal point in considering absolute dates for this period. This result is consistent with Shiraishi's chronological framework for the Kofun period of Japan.

Keywords:  Paleolithic; Jomon; hunter-gatherer; residential mobility; resource exploitation.