会誌『考古学研究』

Abstract: This paper addresses questions concerning the inheritance and transformation of pottery categorization, based on the analysis of lamp-shaped pottery of the Middle Jomon period. Various attributes are considered together to investigate the Jomon people’s categorization of pottery in terms of how they classified the characteristics, social values and symbolic meanings of pottery. By analyzing decoration, the intentional smashing of pottery, excavation and other archaeological contexts, this paper reveals that basic characteristics were inherited from the preceding face-shaped handle when the lamp-shaped pottery emerged in the middle Middle Jomon period, and that various types of lamp-shaped pottery existed simultaneously in the late Middle Jomon period. Chronological and regional differences in the categorization are clarified by changes in the way they were handled as seen from how they were deposited in the archaeological record, their numbers, and the redundant variations of multiple attributes.

Keywords: Pottery forms; categorization; decoration; intentional  smashing of pottery; excavation context.

Abstract: This paper investigates soft stone imitative goods from tombs in the Kanto region to reconstruct the manufacturing systems of these artifacts, which were offered in burial mounds during the fourth and fifth centuries in protohistoric Japan. First of all, two tiers of manufacturing units are presumed: a “minimum unit” of goods sharing not only a similar shape but also the same material and technique; and a “basic unit” consisting of multiple “minimum units,” which reflects the manufacture of an individual person. Sets of products from burials can be classified into two types. One consists of items made by a single manufacturer, which is the prevailing type in the Shimosa region. The other, containing items made by two or more craftsmen, is distributed mainly in Kozuke. As explanation for this difference, with sets of items made by several persons common in Kozuke while sets in Shimosa are regarded as made by single manufacturers, the interpretation is offered that chiefs in Kozuke reorganized craftsmen into a larger manufacturing system, to enrich the supply of soft stone imitative goods for offerings in their own burials.

Keywords: Burial mounds; soft stone imitative goods; manufacturing units; manufacturing types; Kozuke; protohistoric Japan.

Abstract: This study aims to clarify plant use during the final stage of the Jomon period in the Ina Basin, central Japan. We examined seed impressions on clay vessels from three sites: the Yazaki, Ishigyo and Gongendomae sites. A replication method was employed to create silicone models of the impressions which were observed using scanning electron microscopy. As a result of the analysis, impressions made by grains of Setaria italica P. Beauv. and Panicum miliaceum L. could be identified. Chronological examination suggests that almost all of the fragments of potsherd from the Yazaki site are of the Hanareyama-type, which is assigned to the final stage of the Jomon period. These plant seed impressions therefore represent some of the earliest evidence for millet cultivation in the Japanese islands.

Keywords: Final Jomon, Chubu highland area, replication method, foxtail millet, broomcorn millet, rice

Abstract: This paper examines the results of archaeological investigations at palace and capital sites of the seventh and eighth centuries and discusses the development and transformation of administrative office compounds (Zoshi) in the ancient imperial cities of Japan. Analyses were carried out on the quantity and distribution of compounds in the palaces, their spatial segmentation and structural modification, the layout of the buildings, and the building-to-land ratios. This research reveals that sites for administrative office compounds were limited by topographical constraints at the Former Naniwa Palace and the Asuka Palace sites. This implies that sufficient space was not included in construction plans for early palaces. At the Asuka Palace site, the areas of administrative office compounds were not subdivided with board fences, suggesting that the role of each compound was still undifferentiated, since the traditional governmental system in which each administrative duty was assigned to and conducted exclusively by a clan still held influence. At the Fujiwara Palace, the palace ground became square in shape and the locus of public administration moved from the residences of various clans to compounds within the palace, and a formal system of government based on the ritsuryo code was established. At the Nara Palace, segmentation of compound space and structural changes in compound buildings were seen, as the systematic role of each compound became clear. This study thus shows the transformation of administrative office compounds was linked to the development of the ritsuryo administrative system, with the concept of the ritsuryo bureaucracy converted into tangible form as the layouts of the compounds and the structure of the buildings.

Keywords: Ritsuryo state; bureaucracy; imperial city; administrative office compound (Zoshi), embedded-pillar buildings.