A Study on the Transformation of Long-Term Regional Societies during the Jomon Period and the Transition to the Following Yayoi Period

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24320159
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Archaeology
• Research Institution: Meiji University
• Principal Investigator: ABE Yohiro 明治大学, 文学部, 教授 (10221730)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): TOIZUMI Takeji 明治大学, 研究・知財戦略機構, 研究推進員 (20237035)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 先史考古学 / 社会構造 / 生業 / 縄文時代

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Japanese archaeologists have previously considered the climatic deterioration, especially decrease in temperature, and the introduction of methods of wet rice cultivation to Japan as the major factors for cultural changes from the Jomon to Yayoi Period. The principal investigator has examined these hypotheses from the following three perspectives: 1) whether the decrease in temperature is reflected in zoo-archaeological evidence or not; 2) whether the decrease in temperature in reflected in paleoethnobotanical evidence or not; and 3) what were the major factors for the increased complexity of subsistence and social organizations from the Middle to Final Jomon Period that took place at archaeological sites. The results of analysis conducted by the principal investigator, however, have revealed no evidence of climatic deterioration. Furthermore, as the social organization became more complex, the subsistence activities became more specialized.

Free Research Field

先史考古学