Study of Shell-trade in Yayoi period from a viewpoint of Ryukyu Islands

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26370900
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Archaeology
• Research Institution: Kumamoto University
• Principal Investigator: Kinoshita Naoko 熊本大学, 大学院人文社会科学研究部(文), 教授 (70169910)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 琉球列島 / 弥生時代 / 貝交易 / ゴホウラ / 粗加工品 / 南島産貝輪 / 北部九州 / 貝殻集積

Outline of Final Research Achievements

For these 20 years the data from Ryukyu Islands on the shell-trade increased, I reexamined it from the viewpoint of the place of shell product, through analysis of the shell accumulation left in Okinawa. Trough analysis, it became clear that half made artefact of Gohoura, strombus sp., was the main trading material from the beginning of the trade, not the shell itself as it was realized before. It assumed that the people from the north for trading and Okinawa islanders made the primary design of the Yayoi bracelets together, because the bracelets very similar to that of Yayoi culture were often found in the shell accumulation in Okinawa.
The shell-trade is divided into three phases; "the start period" in which the half-made artefact of the back holed type appears, "the developing period" when the type of the ventral holed occupies the main consumption and the quality of the shell begins decreasing, and "the meridian time to ebb tide period" when the ventral holed rough type comes up.

Free Research Field

考古学