Geochemical Provenance Analysis of Pre-Younger Dryas Pottery from Southern Japan Using Neutron Activation

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Due to the availability of detailed tephrochronology, southern Kyushu of southern Japan, has among the most reliable dates for pottery from the late Pleistocene in East and Northeast Asia. Pottery from the Incipient Jomon Period is found below Satsuma Tephra dated to ca. 12,800 cal BP. In our previous study, we conducted petrographic and microprobe analysis of Incipient Jomon sherd samples from the Sankakuyama I site on Tanegashima, an island off the coast of southern mainland Kyushu. The result suggest that most samples were locally produced and some samples were transported from the mainland Kyushu and/or Yakushima Island. We interpreted that people were mainly sedentary in an ecotone with varied resources, but to buffer occasional and long-term risks, engaged in exchange with non-community members on other islands. In this study, we conducted geochemical sourcing with neutron activation analysis (NAA). Our results from NAA and behavioral interpretations agreed with our previous results.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32698