Stories from the Riverside: Metastability in the Shinano-Chikuma River System, Central Japan

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Current Issues in Japanese Archaeology (2019 Archaeological Research in Asia Symposium)" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper discusses the significance of the archaeology of the Shinano and Chikuma River system, the longest drainage in Japan, an area of very high environmental activity, situated on the Fossa Magna. The paper focuses on the Jomon period, when the region had the highest density of early ceramic sites (Incipient Jomon, c 12,000 BP) and produced some the most elaborate ceramics of the whole Jomon tradition (Flame pots c. 5000 BP). These are highlighted in the current Japan Heritage (Nihon Isan) initiative, designed to situate specific heritage assets in longer-term regional narratives appealing to the general public. Additionally, a number of Jomon objects from the region have in recent decades been designated as National Treasures, and Jomon obsidian mines are involved in the world’s first international ‘twinning’ of archaeological sites. Short-term and longer-term archaeological sequences are interpreted in terms of metastability, providing a framework for understanding the continuity of tradition in the context of ever-changing landscapes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Current Issues in Japanese Archaeology (2019 Archaeological Research in Asia Symposium)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24759