Transformation of the Jomon-era Ritual System: A Case Study of the Jomon / Yayoi transition in the 1st millennia BC in the Tohoku Region of the Japanese Archipelago

Summary

It has long been claimed that the Jomon-era cultural and ritual system was probably replaced by a new early farming cultural system (Yayoi Culture) brought by immigrants from the Korean peninsula. Recently, however, Japanese archaeologists have been working to determine the variability of ritual practices in each region of the Japanese archipelago. This paper analyzes the transformational process of ritual items (e.g., clay figurines and stone implements) of the Tohoku (northeastern part of main Island) region in the 1st millennia BC, in which the Jomon cultural ritual system entered its final phase on the main island of the archipelago. Based on this case study, I am proposing a revised model of the social process which transformed the ritual system from that of a hunter-gatherer to an agricultural society.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Feasts and Ritual Structures: Ethnoarchaelogical and Archaeological Perspectives

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16829