Migration and adaptation of Jomon people during Pleistocene/Holocene transition period in Hokkaido, Japan
Introduction
It is well known that pottery vessels in Northeast Asia and East Asia appeared as early as the Late Pleistocene and were used by people with a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. The presence of pottery has been viewed as a marker in setting the period following the Paleolithic (Barnes, 1999; Chard, 1974; Jordan and Zvelevil, 2009; Kuzmin, 2006). The invention of early pottery in the region began prior to settled village life based on agricultural societies; this situation differs from that in the Near East and Europe where pottery appeared after the development of plant cultivation and herding, or almost simultaneously with agriculture (Kuzmin, 2010a). Assumptions of a revolutionary socioeconomic change to the Neolithic period during the Pleistocene/Holocene transition in East and Northeast Asia (Childe, 1939) are no longer viable. However, the transformation of hunter-gatherer lifestyles from mobile to sedentary remains a key topic of the Paleolithic/Neolithic transition, and environmental changes can be focused on as important driving forces for cultural changes and the emergence of pottery (Cohen, 2013; Gibbs and Jordan, 2016; Gibbs et al., 2017; Kuzmin, 2013). Based on studies of pottery function, factors leading to increasingly sedentary lifeways have been discussed with regard to subsistence strategies for efficiently exploiting nearby resources, such as aquatic resources (Craig et al., 2013; Lucquin et al., 2018). The varied regional timing of pottery's appearance in East and Northeast Asia is explained by the diverse climatic conditions and ecological settings found throughout this region (Kuzmin, 2010b; Sato and Natsuki, 2017).
The emergence of pottery in the Japanese archipelago occurred in the transitional Incipient Jomon period (c. 17,000–11,500 cal BP) as the highly mobile lifestyle of the Paleolithic changed to the sedentary lifestyle of the Jomon (Morisaki and Natsuki, 2017; Morisaki et al., 2019). Incipient Jomon archaeological components do not necessarily indicate a gradual transition to sedentary life but represent fluctuating relationships between environmental change and human behavior in the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene periods (Iizuka and Izuho, 2017; Morisaki and Natsuki, 2017; Morisaki and Sato, 2014). Some studies focusing on the increase and decrease in the number of archaeological sites and pottery vessels have pointed out the relationship between demographic change and climate fluctuation (Nakazawa et al., 2011; Taniguchi, 2011). Evidence for the efficient use of a variety of resources and a settlement pattern suggesting low mobility is more prominent in the Initial Jomon period (ca. 11,500–7000 cal BP). This includes the emergence of shell mounds and the increase of pebble tools for processing plant foods, pottery vessels, pit-houses, and storage pits. In addition, regional differences in pottery types, the development of exchange networks between regions, and increased evidence of rituals and ornaments are also characteristics of archaeological changes from the Incipient to Initial Jomon periods (Taniguchi, 2011).
To date, there are at least 2400 Incipient Jomon sites in Japan, which are widely distributed from Kyushu Island in the south to Hokkaido in the north (Japanese Paleolithic Research Association, 2010). Although excavations of many Incipient Jomon sites have been reported in Japan, only a few Incipient Jomon sites in Hokkaido have been recorded, and they have only recently been discovered through excavations of the Taisho 3 site (Obihiro Board of Education, 2006). This site expanded the geographic distribution of Jomon sites, indicating that the Jomon people migrated north into Hokkaido during the Late Glacial (LG) warming. Residue analyses of pottery vessels from the site (Craig et al., 2013; Kunikita et al., 2013) suggest that fishing might have intensified in the subsistence strategy of the Incipient Jomon period. New scenarios explaining human migration from Asia to the Americas posit a northward expansion and possible population pressure of the Jomon people based on archaeological evidence of the LG period of Japan (Buvit and Terry, 2016; Buvit et al., 2016; e.g., Iizuka, 2018). Regardless of whether these hypotheses are correct, it is important to consider the spread of new technologies and lifestyles from the perspective of human migration and adaptation. Such an explanation, however, has relied on little evidence from Hokkaido; therefore, it is necessary to update information on the distribution and dates of the Incipient Jomon to obtain a more detailed context of the initial cultural expansion and those that occurred later.
There are few known cases of early pottery at the end of the Pleistocene, and the stable use of pottery in Hokkaido seems to have begun at the onset of the Holocene (Morisaki and Natsuki, 2017). In addition, the Incipient Jomon assemblages are thought to have coexisted with Terminal Upper Paleolithic (TUP) assemblages in the region (Yamahara, 2008), but the transition from those two to the Initial Jomon is still unclear. Considering the situation, archaeological sites, including the Incipient and Initial Jomon, and TUP, need to be examined to reveal the continuity or discontinuity of the Jomon presence.
This paper compares paleoclimatic changes and lithic assemblage changes that occurred in Hokkaido in the Pleistocene/Holocene transition to contribute to the understanding of the emergence of hunter-gatherer societies with pottery use and the relationship between human behavior and environmental changes in Northeast Asia and East Asia. It examines not only the appearance of Jomon society but also the continuity or discontinuity in Hokkaido and assesses it in association with human migration and adaptation corresponding with paleoclimatic fluctuation. It especially focuses on the stone tool assemblages for the evaluation.
Section snippets
The TUP period in Hokkaido
The Japanese archipelago is a long chain of islands located on the western margin of the Pacific Ocean. Hokkaido is the northernmost island of the Japanese archipelago, extending from 41°N to 45°N latitude and between 140°E and 146°E longitude. In the Late Pleistocene, because of the global glacioeustatic drop in sea level, the four major islands were combined into two landmasses: Paleo-Honshu Island, consisting of what are now the three separate islands of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, and the
Previous studies
Only scant evidence of the Incipient Jomon period in Hokkaido existed until the early 2000s. Early investigations discovered potsherds from the Masuda and Higashirokugo1 sites in eastern Hokkaido along with lithic assemblages like those of the Upper Paleolithic (Furano City Board of Education, 1987; Tsurumaru, 1975). Excavation report authors noted that these potsherds are similar to Tenneru-Akatsuki type pottery of the Initial Jomon period while considering the possibility that they may have
Archaeological materials
Previous studies have reported that OPPF scars observed on Incipient Jomon projectiles are upward to the right in both Honshu and Hokkaido. In this research, I examined OPPF scar direction in 194 specimens including arrowheads, willow-leaf projectile points and stemmed points from 35 archaeological subsurface and surface collection assemblages throughout Hokkaido to assess the presence and technological variability of the Incipient Jomon lithic assemblages.
I analyzed the flake tool typology and
Lithic assemblage variability and OPPF scar direction
The OPPF scar direction analysis suggested that projectile-making techniques differed between the Incipient Jomon and early Initial Jomon technocomplexes. OPPF scars were observed in 133 (68.6%) of the 194 specimens. The OPPF scar direction on arrowheads and willow-leaf points of the Incipient Jomon is mainly upward to the right, while on arrowheads of the early Initial Jomon, it is upward to the left (Table 3). Except for several types of projectile points, the difference in the composition of
Discontinuity in the Jomon tradition and the timing of the Jomon migration
The examination of the ages of the three archaeological sites suggested that the Taisho and early Initial Jomon complexes date from 15,100 to 13,900 cal BP and 11,000–10,000 cal BP, respectively. The dates associated with the Kyushirataki technocomplex have not been obtained in Hokkaido, but the range of 15,200–13,800 cal BP has been roughly estimated following those of the two Incipient Jomon sites featuring willow-leaf projectile points in Honshu (the Seikosanso B and Onikawabe sites). Among
Conclusion
This study revealed that the emergence and discontinuity of Jomon tradition in Hokkaido during the Pleistocene/Holocene transition correlates with climate change. An analysis of chronological evidence demonstrated that the Jomon communities with pottery existed in the LG warm and the Post-LG (the Initial Holocene) and that the disruption of Jomon people and Jomon-origin technology occurred in the LG cold. An analysis of OPPF scar direction indicated that early evidence of the Incipient Jomon
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
I am grateful to guest editors Dr. Fumie Iizuka and Dr. Karisa Terry for the opportunity to submit this paper. I also thank editor Andrea Zerboni. Constructive comments and suggestions by anonymous reviewers help me to improve this paper. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP17K13563.
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