会誌『考古学研究』

CONTENTS

Vol.68　No.2（270）, September 2021

PAPERS PRESENTED AT THE 67th ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY: What is power?: The relationship between group and infrastructure, Part 1

• Symbolism of ancient roads
• OHMI Toshihide
  Abstract: In the latter half of the seventh century, as Japan sought to establish a system of centralized authority, a nationwide network of highways was built with the capital in Yamato as its point of origin. This network of highways, called the shichidō ekiro (seven circuit highways and post-stations), was characterized by straight roadways of around 10 m in width, which stood vastly apart from previous roads in scale and structure. Additionally, government office complexes such as provincial and district headquarters were established along the routes, with the roads themselves held as part of the administrative realm, and utilized as the baselines for systems of land division.
  　While the main purpose for building these highways was to convey information between the political center and the regions, the characteristics listed above are thought to have had the aim, beyond mere construction for the sake of traffic, of making visible the authority of the state which built such roads. In actuality, this highway network was built during the latter half of the seventh century, which was the era of establishment of the system of centralized authority, and faded along with district headquarters and other government offices in the tenth century, as centralized authority degenerated.
  　This was a highway network built through conscription of the regions as ancient Japan sought to build a powerful state based on a system of centralized authority, and in this sense gives visibility to one element of the authority of the ancient state. But at the same time, a certain amount of consideration for regional society through the construction of these highways can also be discerned, as the development of arable land and the building of ponds accompanied the establishment of land boundaries. The highway network built by the ancient state thus had the dual aspects of manifesting central authority and developing the regions, and therein can be seen the nature of the authority of the ancient state.

  Keywords: centralized authority; post roads; symbolism; ritsuryō system

ARTICLES

• Stone tool use of the Okhotsk culture in Northern Hokkaidō: Functional analysis of stone tools from the Kafukai 1 site, Rebun Town, Northern Japan
• TAKASE Katsunori
  Abstract:　The purpose of this study is to reveal use of stone tools by the Okhotsk culture using the high-power approach of lithic use-wear analysis. As a result of examinations on lithic materials from the Kafukai 1 site on Rebun Island, Northern Hokkaido, use-wear polish was detected on 24 specimens (3.5%) out of 682 flaked stone tools and 17 specimens (40%) out of 43 polished stone axes/adzes. Although no use-wear polish could be seen on arrowheads, points, a drill, notched knives, and a blade, we clarified that end scrapers were used for tanning hide. Side scrapers were tools for cutting/sawing and scraping/whittling various materials such as wood, grass, bone, hide, and shell. Axes and adzes exhibited a strong relationship with woodworking. One axe was estimated to have been used for felling wood, whereas other adzes were used for processing wood. Overall, poorly developed use-wear polish suggests that stone tools were not necessarily principal implements for manufacturing wood, hide, bone, and shell products. Nevertheless, temporal change in the lithic composition and use of stone flakes demonstrates that stone tools played a relatively significant role in the period of Fishbone layer IV; however, various stone tools, with the exception of stone adzes and pebble tools such as net weights, were rapidly replaced by iron tools in later phases, indicating that the importance of stone tools remarkably declined in a period between the Fishbone layers IV and III.

  Keywords: Okhotsk culture; chipped stone tools; stone axes/adzes; lithic use-wear analysis
• Reexamination of the Nihon shoki chronology: Centering on the chapters for Ōjin and Yūryaku
• NIIRO Izumi
  Abstract: Compiled in the eighth century, the Nihon shoki is one of the oldest Japanese historical texts, but as there are many inconsistencies in its chronology it has been regarded until now as low in credibility. The current contribution attempts to reevaluate the circumstances leading to these inconsistencies through a reconstruction of the process of the Nihon shoki’s compilation. To begin with, putting aside textual entries dependent on Chinese or Korean historical documents, which have until now been treated as chronological clues, and extracting the developmental process of foreign diplomacy from those entries of the Nihon shoki thought to derive from its primary sources originating within Japan, the result was directly compared with foreign sources. From the relations of correspondence between them, the account for Emperor Ōjin is seen to have been backdated from the actual dates by 115 years and that for Yūryaku by 10 years. As a result, the actual dates for the Nihon shoki record of Ōjin’s reign would be 385 to 425 CE and for Yūryaku from 466 to 489; additionally, the figure among the Five Kings of Wa known as San 讃 in the Chinese texts is inferred to have been Ōjin. Furthermore, portions of the inscription on the Gwanggaeto Stele dealing with Wa (Japan) are seen to correspond with the Nihon shoki.

  Keywords: Nihon shoki; Five Kings of Wa; Ōjin account; Yūryaku account; Gwanggaeto Stele

RESEARCH NOTES

• The end of ritual offerings of broken pottery in burial pits
• TAKASE Katsunori
  Abstract:　During the Late Yayoi period, northern Kinki developed burial styles that included hilltop burial mounds with indistinct boundaries built apart from settlements, the construction of numerous burial facilities of various sizes, offerings of broken pottery within burial pits, and the frequent inclusion of weapons, tools, and personal ornaments as grave goods. Additionally, pottery styles were shared and it is clear there was a certain degree of cultural and political unity in the region. This contribution seeks to examine how the Kofun period began by following transitions in the unique ritual offerings of pottery in the Tango, Tanba, and Tajima areas.

  Keywords: Late Yayoi period; northern Kinki; burial mounds; offerings of broken pottery in burial pits; social stratification

REPORTS, NEWS AND APPEALS

• Issues surrounding the preservation of the Takanawa embankment in Minato city, Tokyo prefecture
• HASHIGUCHI Sadashi and KAJIKI Rio
• Promoting excavation, research, and preservation activities for mining sites
• HAGIHARA Mitsuo, KOMATSU Misuzu, AOKI Mika and MUKAI Kiminori
• Ten years since the Great East Japan Earthquake: Have we changed? (Part 2)
  

Ten years since the earthquake disaster: Reconstruction excavations in Miyagi prefecture
TAKAHASHI Eiichi
Ten years since the Great East Japan Earthquake (Sendai city)
NAGASHIMA Eiichi
Cultural properties administration in Minami-sanriku town: Ten years since the Great East Japan Earthquake, issues for consideration, and expectations for the future
ŌUCHI Misaki and IKUTA Kazuhiro
Reflection on the past for a better future
ITAMI Tohru
Reflecting on the reconstruction excavations in Iwate prefecture
KAN Tsunehisa
Learning from the experience in Rikuzen-takata city: Preparing for the future
HIKICHI Ryugen
Reconstruction excavations and site preservation in Kamaishi city
KATŌ Motoki
Looking back on reconstruction support
YOKOTA Akira

BOOK REVIEWS

• NEGISHI Yo. The Jōmon-Yayoi transition in the northern Tōhoku region
• SATO Yusuke

NEW BOOKS

• SHIRAISHI Hiroyuki. Transition from the Palaeolithic to the Jōmon Period: Cultural Change at the Emergence of Pottery
• KURISHIMA Yoshiaki
• Imperial mausolea limited observation 40th anniversary symposium executive committee (ed.). Imperial mausolea as cultural property and world heritage: Imperial mausolea limited observation 40th anniversary symposium
• HIGASHIKAGE Yū

ARCHEO-FOCUS

• Excavation of the Tsukuriyama mounded tomb in Okayama city, Okayama prefecture
• Okayama City Board of Education
• Archaeology and taphonomy of the Neolithic population from Mehrgarh, Pakistan (7000 BC)
• Andrea CUCINA (translated by SUZUKI Shintaro)

REPORT OF THE 67th BUSINESS AND ANNUAL MEETINGS OF THE SOCIETY

MESSAGE FROM THE COMMITTEE

MEMBERS’ COMMUNICATIONS