Jōmon culture
Jōmon culture refers to an ancient civilization that developed in Japan from approximately 18,000 BCE, characterized by its distinctive pottery featuring rope patterns, which is the origin of the term "Jōmon". As the climate warmed and the sea levels rose, the Japanese archipelago formed, setting the stage for this unique culture. Contrary to earlier beliefs that the Jōmon people were nomadic, archaeological findings, particularly from sites like Sannai Maruyama, suggest they established permanent settlements, with populations exceeding five hundred. Their subsistence was diverse, involving hunting, gathering, fishing, and some limited farming in areas with scarcer resources. At the height of Jōmon society, its population is estimated to have been around 260,000, with an average lifespan of about thirty years. The society exhibited egalitarian characteristics, lacking clear social hierarchies, though evidence of significant religious practices, including large structures and intricate figurines, points to the influence of spiritual leaders within the community. Jōmon culture thus represents a significant chapter in the early history of Japan, highlighting both its social organization and cultural practices.
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Jōmon culture
Date: c. 8000-300 b.c.e.
Locale: From the Ryūkyū Islands to northern Japan
Jōmon
Beginning about 18,000 b.c.e., the warming climate and rising sea water began to separate a land mass from the Asian continent along the Tsugaru Strait in the north and the Korean Channel in the west. By 10,000 b.c.e., the detached lands came to form island chains that would constitute the archipelago of Japan. At about this time, a new culture characterized by the use of pottery with rope patterns emerged, thereby creating the term Jōmon (JOW-mown; literally “rope patterns”).
Current archaeological excavation of Jōmon village sites such as Sannai Maruyama in Aomori, northern Japan, which had a population of five hundred or more, seems to disprove the long-held assumption that the Jōmon people were nomadic. In addition to hunting small animals and gathering plants, fruit, and nuts for their primary livelihood, they engaged in highly skilled fishing, tool making, and extensive trading with partners across the surrounding waters. Toward the end of the period, limited farming of grain was started in some regions of western Japan where natural food sources were less abundant than in other areas. Total Jōmon population during the peak period has been estimated at 260,000, and the average lifespan was about thirty years.
Jōmon society was basically egalitarian with no sign of class differences in housing and burial custom, but remnants of massive nonresidential constructions and elaborately ornate figurines indicate religious practices and central roles played by priests and sorcerers in Jōmon community life.
Bibliography
Barnett, William, and John W. Hoopes. The Emergence of Pottery. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995.
Kenrick, Douglas M. Jomon of Japan. New York: Kegan Paul International, 1995.