Stury for taphonomy of cultivated plants and house pest insects and elucidation of Jomon people's maind using soft X-ray and X-ray CT

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16H01957
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Archaeology
• Research Institution: Kumamoto University
• Principal Investigator: OBATA HIROKI 熊本大学, 大学院人文社会科学研究部(文), 教授 (80274679)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 小林 啓 九州歴史資料館, 学芸調査室, 研究員(移行) (20638457) ; 中沢 道彦 明治大学, 研究・知財戦略機構, 研究推進員 (40626032) ; 櫛原 功一 帝京大学, 付置研究所, 講師 (50642526) ; 佐々木 由香 明治大学, 研究・知財戦略機構, 研究推進員 (70642057)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 縄文時代 / 土器圧痕 / 栽培植物 / 家屋害虫 / 大陸系穀物 / X線機器 / 多量種実混入土器 / 定住生活

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study is to find traces of seeds and insects in the paste of earthenware using X-ray equipment and to verify what Jomon people's feelings about cultivated plants and when continental grains such as rice were accepted by Jomon people. As a result, we found an earthenware mixed with a large number of weevils at a Jomon site of Hokkaido and estimated that chestnuts were cultivated along with legumes in eastern Japan, and were spread to Hokkaido along with the pests by Jomon people. Additionally, a difference of main nuts consumed by Jomon people between eastern and western Japan was revealed. With the settlement, soybeans, chestnuts, etc. were begun to be cultivated and stored, and food pests occurred there, and they spread throughout Japan along with the transportation of foods. It was clarified that the plant culture, which was thought to have existed after the Yayoi period, and the sensibility to pray for its fertility already existed in the Jomon period.

Free Research Field

考古学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

縄文時代はこれまで狩猟・採集の時代と考えられてきた。しかし、2007年に縄文土器の圧痕としてダイズが発見されて以来、縄文人が有用植物を栽培していたことが明らかになった。この土器圧痕はまさに縄文人が作り出した人為化石である。本研究はX線機器を用いて土器中の圧痕をすべて検出するという研究手法の精確性や高効果性から、多量のタネやムシを入れた土器の発見につながった。これまで、主に年代指標として使われていた土器を、新たな生活史・思想史復元の資料源とみなし、縄文人たちの生活や栽培植物に対する想いを掘りだすこの研究は、私たちがステレオタイプ的に考えている歴史観を覆す可能性を秘めている。