会誌『考古学研究』

CONTENTS

Vol.61　No.3（243）,December, 2014

PAPERS PRESENTED AT THE 60th ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY: JAPANESE ARCHAEOLOGY FROM THE WORLD’S PERSPECTIVE, Part 2

• The archaeological study of the Kofun period in global perspective: Directions for comparative archaeology
• TSUJITA Jun’ichiro
  Abstract: In order to relativize Kofun period society of the Japanese archipelago and the archaeological study in Japan of the Kofun period, in this paper the author tries to show possible directions for comparative study from the perspectives of social evolution and state formation. First, the author explains the process of state formation in the Japanese archipelago as a three-stage transformation in principle from the prestige goods system of the third to fifth centuries into actual political domination by the Yamato polity in the sixth to seventh centuries. Second, the author compares Kofun period society with territorial states and city states to consider the problem of the “absence of the city” in the Kofun period, showing that although the city did not appear until the late seventh to early eighth centuries, characteristics of territorial states became prominent especially from the second stage of transformation in the sixth century on. Finally, the author compares state formation in the archipelago with the transition in Britain from the Iron Age to the Roman period, from the viewpoint of secondary state formation and acculturation at the periphery of a larger civilization. As the result, while some similarities such as the reorganization of local society into administrative units and indirect domination by the process of Romanization can be recognized on the one hand, the author also ascertains as differences the absence of construction of monumental tumuli for political display in the chiefdom society of Iron Age Britain, and rapid acculturation centered in urban areas of Roman Britain after 43 AD. In this manner the author argues the importance of relativizing Kofun period society within the broader context of human history through direct comparison with another culture.

  Keywords: Kofun period; comparative archaeology; relativization; human history; state formation.
• The position of Japanese archaeologists in the world: From the field of Southeast Asia
• MARUI Masako
  Abstract: In this paper I examine Japanese archaeology in global context, with observations using the case of Southeast Asia as a field. Focusing on the Japanese archaeologist as a practitioner and a fieldworker, through a reconsideration of the historical circumstances of the society to which that practitioner belongs and the socio-cultural context she or he must face, I attempt to suggest a way to understand Japanese archaeology in global context. As background to raising this question is my experience, built up over a long time in Southeast Asia, of confronting situations that often prompted self-awareness of myself as a Japanese archaeologist. In this paper I hypothesize that this self-consciousness as a Japanese not only derives from individual experience, but can also be relativized as the standpoint of Japanese archaeologists, and I then examine the role and position of Japanese archaeologists in the historical background of relations between Japan and Southeast Asia. I review the historical circumstances of both regions, and show that Japanese archaeologists have ambivalent feelings about the field of Southeast Asia arising from the stigma of WW2 on the one hand, and aspirations for research on the other. Further, looking at the trend produced by contemporary society for archaeology to treat sites as opportunities for the practice of international cultural cooperation, I touch on the new role of Japanese archaeologists as stakeholders. Finally, I conclude that in addition to traumatic feelings about war as a historical circumstance on the one hand, Japanese archaeologists working in Southeast Asia in the twenty-first century have a new role as partner from an aid-providing country as a social circumstance on the other.

  Keywords: Southeast Asia; historical circumstances; contemporary social circumstances; international cultural cooperation; contributions to society.
• General discussion

ARTICLE

• When the world changes: An archaeological approach through a case study of the Middle Yayoi period in northern Kyushu
• MIZOGUCHI Koji
  Abstract: This paper examines how changes to the social environment can be investigated archaeologically. It is argued that changes to the world took place as a result of a transformation in the social environment of the individual. The social environment of each individual appears as the unity of all forms of communication which can be differentiated through the social life of a given individual, and in order for this system to continue to exist, certain sets of communication that are differentiated and realised need to be reproduced. When the reproduction of this communication becomes difficult, various ways of carrying on communicating are generated, and those which are deemed fit for this purpose are formalised and stabilised. The change of the social environment takes place in this manner, and this is mediated by, and leaves behind, certain material items, and traces. This paper portrays this by examining changes that took place in the field of mortuary communication during the Middle Yayoi period in northern Kyūshū, Japan.

  Keywords: Social environment; change; communication; mortuary practices; Middle Yayoi period.

RESEARCH NOTES

• A study of pottery usage in the Middle Jomon period: Analysis of buried pottery in pit dwellings
• MOTOHASHI Emiko
  Abstract: In this paper I study the uses of Jomon pottery buried in pit dwellings, including pottery fragments reused as a hearth, buried pottery used as a hearth, and buried pottery probably used for infant burial. I analyze the pottery size, the parts of the pottery fragment, and the patterns of burnt deposits inside the pottery. I reveal that there is no significant difference in the pattern of burnt deposits between the different types of the buried pottery. There is also no difference in the size between the pottery fragments reused as a hearth body and buried pottery used for infant burial, and it is probable that pottery used for boiling was reused for infant burial. In the early Kasori-E type phase, there is an increase in the occurrence ratios of pottery with its bottom part intact in the types of buried pottery used as hearths and buried pottery used for infant burial. This suggests that the trend changed drastically in this period. In addition, pottery buried in a hearth without any traces of secondary-burning were recognized in the early Kasori-E type phase. This evidence has some implication for understanding the role of dwellings in settlements of this period, and it is probable that this phenomenon has some relationship with the disappearance of circular-patterned settlements in the final phase of the Middle Jomon period.

  Keywords: Middle Jomon period; buried pottery in a dwelling; size; part; burnt deposit.
• Preclassic Maya long-distance exchange and stone tool production: Chipped stone evidence from the Middle Preclassic Ceibal, Guatemala
• AOYAMA Kazuo
  Abstract: This article discusses the results of a study of chipped stone artifacts collected in Ceibal, Guatemala, in order to elucidate Preclassic Maya long-distance exchange and stone tool production. The results of the present study suggest that the importation of obsidian macrocores and local production of prismatic blades began during the early Middle Preclassic period (1000-700 BC). Early Middle Preclassic Ceibal society appears to have developed a minimal level of sociopolitical complexity wherein the procurement of obsidian macrocores and local production of prismatic blades could be administered. The obsidian data at Ceibal represents the earliest evidence to date of the local production of prismatic blades made from both El Chayal and San Martín Jilotepeque obsidian in the Maya lowlands. There is evidence for the local production of chert prismatic blades, as well as bifacial points and oval bifaces as early as the early Middle Preclassic period.

  Keywords: Long-distance exchange; stone tool production; chipped stone artifacts; Preclassic Maya civilization.

REPORTS, NEWS AND APPEALS

• A report of the student’ discussion session at the 60th Annual Meeting of the Society: A future perspectives
• KOZUKI Katsumi, GOKITA Makiha, KITAGAWA Yūsuke, YAMASHITA Daiki and ISHIMURA Tomo
• A report of the Second Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage: To establish a concept of maritime heritage and a framework of international and interregional cooperation
• KIMURA Jun
• A report of the North American Theoretical Archaeology Group Conference 2014
• MITSUMOTO Jun

BOOK REVIEWS

• KUDO Yuichiro and National Museum of Japanese History, eds. New Perspectives of Plant Usage by Jomon Peoples
• HOSOYA Aoi
• KAKUDŌ Ryōsuke. Bronze Artifacts in the Western Zhou Dynasty
• UCHIDA Junko

ARCHEO-FOCUS

• The Takazumi Idezoe site, Tottori prefecture
• KITA Hiroaki
• Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, the United States of America
• ARAKAWA Fumiyasu and SASAKI Kenichi

REPORTS

• A report of the Regional Meeting of the Society of Archaeological Studies in Okayama

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