Exploring Pottery Use Across the Jomon-Yayoi Transition

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17H04777
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Archaeology
• Research Institution: Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties
• Principal Investigator: Shoda Shinya 独立行政法人国立文化財機構奈良文化財研究所, 企画調整部, 室長 (50566940)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 脂質 / 安定同位体 / 狩猟採集 / 農耕 / 個別脂肪酸

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project aims to empirically trace the transition of subsistence, food habits, and cooking behavior from the Jomon to the Yayoi period in the Japanese archipelago using lipid residue analysis of pottery and stable isotope analysis. In the final year of the project (2020), lipid residues extracted from 400 pottery vessels excavated from sites in Northern Kyushu, Central Highlands, Tokai, Kanto and Tohoku regions of Japan were analysed by gas chromatography to determine the presence or absence of bioindicators and the ratio of isomers of specific compounds. Based on the results, we traced the changes in the use of resources according to region and period, and found that the changes in the use of fishery and plant resources during the transition period from the Jomon to the Yayoi period showed different patterns depending on the region.

Free Research Field

考古生化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

この研究により、今までは偶発的に残された動植物遺体や、石器組成・遺跡立地などの間接的な証拠に基づいて議論されてきた縄文時代から弥生時代への生業・食性・調理行動の移り変わりについて、実際に調理していたものを地域間で比較することにより、より鮮明に地域色を浮き彫りにすることができた。また、一かけらの土器片にも、当時の調理行動を復元するための極めて重要な情報が含まれていることを示すことができた。