Impacts of paleoclimatic fluctuations on the Palaeolithic mobility strategies and population dynamics in central Japan

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26370905
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Archaeology
• Research Institution: Meiji University
• Principal Investigator: Shimada Kazutaka 明治大学, 学術・社会連携部博物館事務室, 専任職員 (70398907)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 後期旧石器時代 / 遊動戦略 / 黒曜石 / 原産地分析 / 古環境 / 資源開発 / 狩猟採集民

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study examined interrelationships between landscape changes and obsidian procurement activity in the Central Highlands (C.H.) on the basis of pollen data during 30,000 years from the C.H. and obsidian provenance data more than 80,000 from central Japan. The result showed that the interrelationships were more complex than previously thought. (1) Climatic deterioration since 30,000 years ago (30 ka) caused temporary decline in the use frequency of the alpine landscape prevailed in the C.H. by that time. (2) Obsidian gatherers during 25-20 ka actively exploited the alpine landscape with cultural innovations during the coldest phase. (3) After 20 ka, although the climate condition in the C.H. ameliorated, the exploitation frequency apparently became lower than that of previous period. This puzzling human behavior was caused by a social change represented by occurrence of two mobility regions in which people migrated either the sources of C.H. or those of Kozu Island, respectively.

Free Research Field

考古学