Sourcing of Grave Stones in the Late Jomon of Central Hokkaido

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The goal of this paper is to determine the source of grave stones for exploring the political economy among regional groups on the Ishikari Plain in the Late Jomon of central Hokkaido who created shuteibo (a type of communal cemetery characterized by a circular embankment). Our previous petrological analyses based on polarizing microscopical observation of thin sections, and major and trace element concentrations by XRF suggest that occupants at the Kashiwagi-B site located along the Izarigawa River used columnar jointed dacites from the Morap Mountain as stone grave markers (upright stones), while they used platy jointed andesites from the Monbetsu Mountain as stone grave arrangements. This research conducted the petrological analyses of grave stones recovered from the Bibi-4/Misawa-1 sites located along Misawa Creek. The analyses suggest that occupants at Bibi-4/Misawa-1 mainly used elongated sand stones and granites as grave stones, while they used a small number of platy jointed andesites as grave stones. At present, sources of these sand stones and granites are unknown; however, the difference of stone material, shape, and arrangement of grave stones between Kashiwagi-B and Bibi-4/Misawa-1 indicates that variability of mortuary practices as well as possible different origins of regional groups who occupied these sites.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36187.0