Reconstruction of seasons of pottery making and floods based on plant phenology

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K12440
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Cultural assets study and museology
• Research Institution: Chiba University
• Principal Investigator: Momohara Arata 千葉大学, 大学院園芸学研究科, 教授 (00250150)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 工藤 雄一郎 国立歴史民俗博物館, 研究部, 准教授 (30456636) ; 沖津 進 千葉大学, 大学院園芸学研究科, 教授 (70169209)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 植物考古学 / 大型植物遺体 / 気候変動 / 植生史 / 土器圧痕

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In prehistoric Japan, change of rainy season should have impacted human lifestyles including pottery making, plant gathering, and plant cultivation. We aim reconstruction of season of plant assemblage formation and pottery making based on phenological features of plant remains and impressions. We studied plant remains in channel fill deposits in the last glacial stage and Jomon era and plant impressions in potteries and tephra. Male cone just before blooming and developing young shoots of conifer indicate that plant assemblage formation in spring climate events prevailed during the last glacial maximum. Plant impressions in potteries and tephra are also available for seasonal reconstructions based on plant phenology.

Free Research Field

植生史学