Spread of cultivated plants after the Yayoi period in Eastern Japan

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K01109
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 03050:Archaeology-related
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University (2020-2021); The University of Tokyo (2019)
• Principal Investigator: KUNIKITA Dai 北海道大学, 文学研究院, 准教授 (00549561)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 考古学 / 栽培植物 / ムギ / 炭素・窒素同位体分析 / 放射性炭素年代測定

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we attempted to reconstruct food habits and spread of cultivated plants through carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis, C/N analysis, radiocarbon dating of charred residues on pottery after the Yayoi period in Eastern Japan. There is a tendency to boil mainly millet (C4 plants) from the end of the Final Jomon period to the middle of the Yayoi period in the Chubu region and the Ancient Tohoku region. These results are consistent with the studies using the replication method. It was found that specimens of wheat from the Ancient to early modern periods had become mixed into the soil covering the remains of the Yayoi period in Eastern Japan. The beginning of cereal cultivation in the Japanese archipelago were by no means simple.

Free Research Field

考古学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では、先史時代における穀物栽培を自然科学的な手法を用いて検討を行った。本研究手法は、新たな角度で弥生農耕文化を評価することが可能である。大陸から波及した穀物栽培の受容過程を詳細に検討することは、列島内の農耕文化形成の多様性や選択の独自性を考えるうえで非常に重要になる。弥生時代以降における食性に関する地域間の共通性や独自性、形成過程を議論することは、現代の地域文化の多様性を理解する際にも役立つと考えられる。