In the southern part of Kyushu Island in southern Japan and the small islands further south the earliest pottery is found beneath the Satsuma tephra, which has been well dated to ca. 12,800 cal BP. Here we focus on Incipient Jomon pottery, 14,000/13,500–12,800 cal BP, from the Sankakuyama I site on Tanegashima Island. Previous visual analysis of the fabrics suggested that about half of the vessels were not locally made. In this study, we conducted both ceramic and raw material petrography and an electron microprobe study on samples of pottery. Our results indicate that pottery was mainly produced in situ, away from the coast, but that there is some clear non-local material which came from either Yakushima Island or Kyushu Island proper. Yakushima has no reported Incipient Jomon sites. There should be undiscovered sites on Yakushima if pottery circulated from there rather than Sankakuyama I residents embedding production in their logistical moves on Yakushima. Minor signatures of non-local geology in locally produced pottery are probably the result of volcanic eruptions and sea currents. Pottery production began when Tanegashima was disconnected from Kyushu and probably about to be separated from Yakushima. During the Incipient Jomon period, Tanegashima had become isolated. We conclude that pottery producers were hunter-gatherers who were mainly sedentary, living in a mild environmental with ecotone properties. They occasionally engaged in costly communication and exchange, which may have involved transporting pottery by watercraft and on foot, to buffer risks. Our study is among the first to investigate the pottery economy of the late Pleistocene and the decisions made by its producers and users in response to environmental variability and change. The research contributes to the debate on the origins of pottery and the Upper Paleolithic to Neolithic transition.

在日本南部九州岛的南部和更南边的小岛上，最早的陶器是在萨摩 tephra 下发现的，它的历史可以追溯到大约 20 年前。12,800 卡路里 BP。在这里，我们专注于种子岛的 Sankakuyama I 遗址的早期绳纹陶器，14,000/13,500–12,800 cal BP。先前对织物的视觉分析表明，大约一半的船只不是本地制造的。在这项研究中，我们对陶器样品进行了陶瓷和原材料岩相学以及电子显微探针研究。我们的研究结果表明，陶器主要是在远离海岸的原地生产，但也有一些明显的非本地材料来自屋久岛或九州岛。屋久岛没有报告初期绳纹遗址。如果陶器从那里流通，那么屋久岛上应该有未被发现的遗址，而不是 Sankakuyama I 居民将生产嵌入他们在屋久岛的后勤活动中。本地生产的陶器中的非本地地质的轻微特征可能是火山爆发和海流的结果。陶器的生产始于种子岛与九州断开连接，可能即将与屋久岛分离。绳文初期，种子岛变得孤立。我们得出的结论是，陶器生产者是狩猎采集者，他们主要久坐不动，生活在具有交错带特性的温和环境中。他们偶尔会进行昂贵的沟通和交流，这可能涉及通过船只和步行运输陶器，以缓冲风险。我们的研究是最早调查更新世晚期的陶器经济及其生产者和使用者为应对环境可变性和变化而做出的决定的研究之一。该研究有助于关于陶器起源和旧石器时代晚期到新石器时代过渡的争论。