Abstract
This study examines direct and indirect archaeological evidence on the use of water transport and its role on Japanese Archipelago in the Stone Age—Late Paleolithic (35,000—14,000 BP) and Jomon period (14,000—2400 BP). Currently, the time of the initial settlement on the archipelago by the Homo sapiens is established as 35,000—33,000 BP. All simulated migration routes from East Asia (Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, Russian Far East) to the Japanese Islands involve crossing of straits or open sea areas. Archaeologists have not yet found any remains of boats or rafts from the Late Paleolithic or Incipient and Initial Jomon, while 60 sites and about a hundred of such objects are known for the Early, Middle, Late, and Final Jomon period, with almost 80 % of all finds belonging to the Late and Final Jomon period. All of Jomon boats belonged to flat-bottomed paddle canoe type and were made of the single trunk up to 8,5 m of length and up to 0,7 m of width, effective and comfortable on the sea, river, or lake. It has been suggested that water transport was widely used during Jomon period not only for transportation, communication, and fishing, but also in ritual and ceremonial contexts. It may be confidently assumed that specialized professional groups of ship-builders, boatmen-carriers, traders, fishermen, hunters of sea animals, and divers — living solely from exploitation and distribution of aquatic resources, emerged and became socially distinctive in the Jomon society.
Keywords
Japanese Archipelago, Late Paleolithic, Jomon, water transport, contacts
References
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Список литературы
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An Illustrated Companion to Japanese Archaeology. -Oxford: Archaeopress and the Editors, 2016. - 350 p.
Boomert A., Bright A.J. Island Archaeology: In Search of a New Horizon // Island Studies J. - 2007. - N 1. - P. 3-26.
Erlandson J., Fitzpatrick S.M. Oceans, Islands, and Coasts: Current Perspectives on the Role of the Sea in Human Prehistory // J. of Island and Coastal Archaeol. -2006. - N 1. - P. 5-32.
Habu J. Seafaring and the Development of Cultural Complexity in Northeast Asia: Evidence from the Japanese Archipelago // The Global Origins and Development of Seafaring. - Cambridge: McDonald Inst. for Archaeol. Research, 2010. - P. 159-170.
Hudson M.J. The Sea and Early Societies in the Japanese Islands // The Sea in History - The Ancient World. - Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2017. - P. 102-113.
Iizuka F., Izuho M. Late Upper Paleolithic-Initial Jomon Transitions, Southern Kyushu, Japan: Regional scale to macro processes a close look // Quaternary Intern. - 2017. -Vol. 441. - P. 102-112.
Kaifu Y., Fujita M., Yoneda M., Yamasaki S. Pleistocene Seafaring and Colonization of the Ryukyu Islands, Southwestern Japan // Emergence and diversity of modern human behavior in Paleolithic Asia. - College Station: Texas A&M Univ. Press, 2015. - P. 345-361.
Kaifu Y., Lin C., Goto A., Ikaya N. Palaeolithic Seafaring in East Asia: Testing the bamboo raft hypothesis // Antiquity. - 2019. - Vol. 93. - P. 1424-1441.
Lim C.P., Ito Y., Matsuda Y. Braving the Sea: The Amasan (Women Divers) of the Yahataura Fishing Community, Iki Island, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan // Asian Fisheries Sci. - 2012. - Vol. 25. - P. 29-45.
Omoto K., Takeishi K., Nishida S., Fukui J. Calibrated 14C Ages of Jomon Sites, NE Japan, and Their Significance // Radiocarbon. - 2010. - Vol. 52, N 2-3. - P. 534-546.
Seguchi S. Landscape ‘Neolithization’ Among the Hunter-Fisher-Gatherers of Lake Biwa, Central Japan // J. of World Prehistory. - 2011. - N 3-4. - P. 225-245.
Tsutsumi T. MIS3 Edge-ground Axes and the Arrival of the First Homo sapiens in the Japanese Archipelago // Quaternary Intern. - 2012. - Vol. 248. - P. 70-78.
Turk J. In the Wake of the Jomon. Stone Age Mariners and the Voyage Across the Pacific. - Camden: McGraw-Hill, 2005. - 287 p.
Yoda M. History of the Relationship between People and Lake Biwa // Lake Biwa: Interactions between Nature and People. - Dordrecht: Springer, 2012. - P. 239-307.