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NIHON KÔKOGAKU 12 Abstracts
[A] : Article, [RN] : Research Note, [PR] : Preliminary Report of Excavation, [ER] : Event Report, [SL] : Special Lecture
Microblade Assemblages of the Incipient Jômon
HAGIWARA HirofumiAbstract:
Since the excavation at Fukui cave in Nagasaki prefecture, examples of microblades discovered in association with pottery have increased, with numerous instances from investigations in northwest and southern Kyushu in particular, and research on microblade lithic assemblages has progressed.
Associations of microblades with pottery were recognized for five out of ten strata at Senpukuji cave in Nagasaki prefecture, providing a prospect for a typology of microblade lithic assemblages based on the analysis of these materials. But regional differences are strong for this time period, making it difficult to establish typologies over a broad geographic area.
The current paper is an attempt to construct a typology for the Incipient Jômon period based on a comparison of the stratigraphic results from Senpukuji cave with materials from southern Kyushu. Chronological changes at Senpukuji cave for microcores and ceramics serve as basis for the typology. Although regionalism was strong in Kyushu at the time of the emergence of pottery, cultural diffusion stemming from exchanges between regional groups is discernible at the level of cultural elements, and broad correspondences between regions are possible.
The Incipient Jômon period presents a complex picture, with spear and stone arrow points as hunting equipment in addition to microblades, and signs of a full-scale Jômon culture recognized for southern Kyushu. In order to clarify the Incipient Jômon for Kyushu, analyses of change in lithic forms, focused mainly on microcores and including stone axes as well as spear and arrow points, should be undertaken. The current study makes a fourfold division of the Incipient Jômon on the basis of such factors.
Keywords:
Microblade lithic assemblage typology; Mikoshiba type lithic assemblages of Kyushu; regional groups and regionalism; Incipient Jômon period; Kyushu
Place and Method of Manufacture of Shell Bracelets Made of Patella optima in the Jômon Period: An Investigation of Remains Recovered from Location D, Shimotakabora Site, Izu Ôshima
OSHIZAWA NarumiAbstract:
Of greatest interest in the study of shell bracelets made of Patella optima in the Jômon period is the location of the source and the route of distribution of this shell. Specimens are few in number because this is an unusual shellfish with a highly limited habitat in Japan. Accordingly, data on the form and ecology of this species are deficient, which has hampered archaeological research. For this reason, believing it too difficult to grasp the essence of this problem with traditional methods using archaeological materials alone, the author previously attempted a study from a biological perspective based on research data for this species in modern times, and was a ble to clarify some aspects of the habitat, method of gathering, and process of production for P. optima.
Location D of the Shimotakabora site in Izu Ôshima, regarded as the only locus where unfinished bracelets of P. optima have been discovered in eastern Japan, is the most important site for studying problems about this shell bracelet, but details on the site are unclear. In this regard, the author examined some of the few shell samples remaining in Ôshima, finding examples of this artifact among them, and from an examination of these materials, clarified the process of manufacture of this shell bracelet, and the role of this site in particular and of the Izu archipelago as a whole, with respect to P. optima.
Keywords: Patella optima shell bracelets; shell bracelet manufacture (locus, method, distribution route); Jômon period; Izu archipelago; eastern Japan
The Nature of Large-Scale Yayoi Settlements: An Analysis Based on Middle Yayoi Sites of the Osaka Plain
WAKABAYASHI KunihikoAbstract:
A variety of labels such as "base settlement," "fortress settlement," and "city" have been applied to large-scale settlements of the Middle and Late Yayoi periods. In particular, the notion of a Yayoi city, stemming from the results of the investigation of the Ikegami-Sone site in Osaka, has been gaining attention. This paper attempts a new assessment of the complicated picture of Yayoi settlement sites, based on an analysis of the actual conditions of large-scale settlements.
The central Osaka plain was selected as the region for conducting this analysis, and for three areas in which Yayoi settlement sites were maintained continuously over the Middle Yayoi (the groups of sites on the southern coast of Lake Kawachi, on the eastern coast of that lake, and near the Hirano and Nagase rivers), an examination was conducted of changes in the horizontal distributions of the settlement and cemetery districts for each time period. As a result, for locations which have come to be called large-scale or base settlements it was found that a unit of structure, consisting of a cluster of square-shaped moated burial precincts attached to a settlement district about 100 to 200 m diameter, existed repeatedly and in adjacent fashion, while locations which have been called small-scale settlements are instances where this structure is but thinly distributed.
The settlement district is estimated to be on the scale of twenty to fifty pit dwellings, representing a group several times the settlement unit envisioned in previous debate. This is labeled the "fundamental group" in the current study. As this group is inferred to produce the cluster of moated burial precincts, each of which may contain several burials including those of infants and thereby shows the character of a family grave, the group itself is thought to have been based on consanguineous relations as its unifying principle. It is also held to be the unit for the construction of paddy districts. The author assesses this as the social group which performed vital functions regarding the location of settlement and the resolution of conflict.
According to this notion of a fundamental group, large-scale settlements are regarded as compounds made up of several of these units, and clusters of large ditches found on the plains in the Kinki region are not seen as moats encircling entire settlements. It is also thought that relations between neighboring fundamental groups within large-scale settlements became increasingly complex, resulting in the trend towards inequality visible within and between moated burial precincts. Further, based on the analysis already conducted for the Ikegami-Sone site, a certain tendency toward functional differentiation between neighboring groups can be surmised, and the fostering of mutual dependence between fundamental groups within and between large-scale settlements has drawn attention. Similar characteristics have moreover been recognized for large-scale settlements in other parts of western Japan.
Given the above characteristics, it is difficult to define large-scaled settlements as fortress settlements consisting of self-sufficient agricultural communities having a low degree of economic dependence on the outside world. Also, as the fundamental group is consanguineous in nature, to define large-scale settlements as cities it becomes necessary to envision them as inherently based on a contradictory principle of residence. From these observations, the author proposes to interpret large-scale settlements of the Yayoi period as neither agricultural villages nor cities, but rather by using the notion of "compound-type settlement," through which the process of increase in social complexity may be considered.
Keywords:
Large-scale settlements; square-shaped moated burial precincts; fundamental groups; compound-type settlements; Yayoi period; Osaka plain; Kinki region; western Japan
The Reorganization of Jôsaku Fortifications
YAGI MitsunoriAbstract:
From the mid seventh century to the beginning of the ninth, the construction of fortifications (jôsaku) in ancient Tôhoku concentrated in four periods, constituting points of change in policy regarding the region. First, the Nutari and Iwafuku fortifications were related to the northern expedition of Abe no Omi, and it is presumed they were intended to serve the trade with the north and as a port of entry for the continent. The Kôriyama phase II government office of the end of the seventh century was built as a central administrative facility for control of the region.
In the second stage, around the years 720 to 730, the castles of Tagajô and Akitajô were built as provincial government facilities for Mutsu and Dewa, while the so-called "five fortresses of Tenpyô" were erected on the Ôzaki plain. This concentration of fortifications on the Ôzaki plain formed a line of defense on the northern perimeter of the area for which the system of administrative districts (kôri) had been implemented, and was intended to protect and assist settlers in this area, and to serve as a defense against conflict anticipated between them and the indigenous Ifu. In this manner a meticulous program of dual control was carried out by combining fortifications for dealing with the Ifu with administrative offices for dealing with citizens proper (kômin).
In the third stage Momo'ojô, Ogachijô, and Ijijô fortifications were constructed around 760 for the purpose of establishing administrative districts and for the direct supervision and protection of the settlers. Repairs were also undertaken at this same time at Tagajô and Akitajô.
The fourth stage was around the year 800, when a large-scale reorganization was carried out with the construction of the new fortifications of Isawajô, Shiwajô, Hotta, and Kinowa, through renovations of the provincial government facilities of Mutsu and Dewa, and by closing down old fortifications such as Momo'ojô and Ijijô. These changes stemmed from the policy of territorial expansion of the Enryaku era, the most aggressive period in the administration of the Tôhoku region.
Through subsequent administrative reforms, spurred by the debate regarding
benevolent government, facilities were concentrated from the mid ninth
century on at the six fortifications of Tagajô, Miyazawa (Tamatsukuri
no ki), Isawajô, Kinowa (which became the provincial government facility
for Dewa), Hotta (the successor to Ogachijô), and Akitajô.
This system of six fortifications had as one of its purposes the division
of responsibility for dealing with the various problems of each geographic
area, while it also played a large role in the direct administration over
wide areas in the north by provincial governments, in lieu of a system
of district administrative centers. This was the result of the abandonment
of the program to establish administrative districts under the Ritsuryô
system, as the aggressive military and settlement policies of the central
government changed and were forced to be abolished, and remained the basic
administrative structure for the Tôhoku region until the decline
of the fortifications in the middle part of the tenth century.
Keywords:
Jôsaku fortifications; Ritsuryô administrative district facilities; Emishi (Ifu); ancient period; ancient provinces of Mutsu and Dewa; Tôhoku region
Attitudes Connected with the Construction Of Ancient Cremation Burials as Seen in Perforated Cinerary Urns
YOSHIZAWA SatoruAbstract:
Among vessels containing bones from a cremation, there are often cases in which a hole has been intentionally opened (senkô zôkotsuki). This contribution is an attempt to understand what kind of thoughts were held by mourners when making a cremation burial during the Nara and Heian periods (eighth to tenth centuries), from a consideration of the meaning and background of this perforation.
Eighty-six examples of burial urns with such holes were compiled from all over Japan, and these data sorted with regard to tendencies in the amounts of their geographical and temporal distributions, the types of vessel used, the position and size of the hole, and so forth. Further, a set of criteria was established regarding the possibilities of drainage function versus religious use that have been pointed out in research to date, and the data divided on this basis. As a result, perforations which were relatively small and suitable for drainage were found to be common in the eighth century, but after a boundary formed by the first half of the ninth, examples in which the hole is large and made in a variety of locations become numerous, which may be taken as indicating that perforations were being made more for religious reasons. In other words, the perforation of funerary urns changed from a practical to an impractical nature, and attitudes connected with grave construction are thought to have changed as well.
In order to explore the background to this change, when relations of coexistence of artifacts of religious nature (iron plates, coins, sand used in Buddhist ceremonies) and perforations were examined, the influence of Buddhist-like ritual on burials is visible from the second half of the ninth century on, and it is possible to infer this as a reason for the increase of impractical perforation.
Also, the Ike no ue cemetery in Kyushu was taken as example and examined for signs of the act of perforation being passed on by a particular social group. As a result, in direct contrast to the nationwide trend from practical to impractical, impractical perforation was seen to be conducted from the very first. From this it is accordingly thought that perforating burial urns was not conducted according to a strict social norm, but that particular groups carried out the act of perforation according to their individual traditions.
In sum, the making of a cremation burial changed from the intent of preserving the remains to one in which the ritual conducted on the occasion of interring the bones was given importance; this is concluded to be a stage of transition when the notion from the former age (Kofun period) of protecting the corpse was receding, and the practice of the subsequent age (late Heian period), of conducting rites for the ghost or soul at places apart from the grave, beginning to emerge.
Keywords:
Cremation burials; act of perforation; ritualized grave goods; Nara and Heian periods; Japan
Cato the Elder's De Agri Cultura and the Culture of Mortaria
OGINO ShigeharuAbstract:
The "culture of the mortar," which gave color to the diet of the Roman period, is an important element for studying the territorial expansion and the deep cultural layers of the Roman Empire. Comprising the core of this culture of the mortar were Roman ceramic vessels called "mortaria," but as the meaning of these items changed over time, in the Republican period it is rather the notion of a "culture of mortaria" which better reflects the nature of the times, and the existence of this culture of mortaria helps clarify the culture of the mortar of the Imperial period.
First, the uses of mortaria are clarified from literary sources beginning with the Roman Republican period. Passages referring to mortaria are excerpted from the oldest Latin text in which mortaria appear, Cato the Elder's De Agri Cultura (thought to be a work from the beginning of the second century b.c.), and the ways and contexts in which they were used are made clear. From this it is seen that mortaria were not merely used as implements for grinding, as there are several references to uses for kneading batter for bread or cake. This was a period for which it is better to think of mortaria as vessels having a variety of uses, and not just as mortars. The ways in which mortaria were used is also pointed out by using a mural from Etruria as data.
Next, for mortaria of the Republican period, an examination through archaeological comparison is made for items from the Italian peninsula and those from the eastern Mediterranean. Then the culture of mortaria of the later Hellenistic period is clarified. For mortaria of the Italian peninsula in the same period as Cato, the Roseto type of mortaria is defined on stylistic grounds. In terms of research for the Imperial period, this type of mortaria is called the wall-sided rim type (this author's compound rim type). Then from an examination of typologies covering the latter half of the fourth to the first half of the second centuries b.c., it is concluded that the characteristics of mortaria appearing in Cato's text and the stylistic characteristics of the Roseto type are in agreement. In a comparison with mortaria for the eastern Mediterranean region of the latter Hellenistic period, an analysis is made of examples recovered from the site of Tel Anafa in Israel, clarifying change in mortaria from the Hellenistic to the Imperial periods, and pointing out in particular the similarity in terms of the characteristics of the vessel's foot with the Roseto type.
Keywords:
Cato the Elder; De Agri Cultura; mortaria; Hellenistic period; Roman Republican period; Roman Imperial period; Italy; eastern Mediterranean
The Derivation and Circulation of Long-necked Jars: Characteristics for Northern Japan
KAGABU OsamuAbstract:
Long-necked jars in the Japanese archipelago, which from the seventh through the eighth centuries show a variety of forms including flask-shaped, shouldered, round-bodied, and bell-shaped items, are classified into types A through J and compared with the situation for northern Japan. For the most part these become standardized from the latter portion of the eighth century as footed round-bodied forms. But in northern Japan for the ninth to tenth centuries, banded long-necked jars, having protruding bands ringing the body and neck portions, become widely distributed.
At the same time, in the northern part of the region over which fortifications (jôsaku) were established, the northern Tôhoku long-necked jar, for which a potter's wheel was not used when shaving down the body, becomes widely distributed, standing in contrast to items within the fortified region where administrative districts (kôri) had been established, for which a wheel was used in this process. Dividing banded long-necked jars into class R1 having the latter type of shaving only, R3 the former type only, and R2 in which both types were used on the same vessel, the general distribution shows a contrast between class R1 in the area of Fukushima prefecture and R3 in Aomori and on the Pacific coast of Hokkaido, versus the coexistence of R1, R2, and R3 in the region with fortifications.
The banded long-necked jars of northern Japan emerged in the first portion of the ninth century at the Aizu Ôto kiln site and spread to the area where fortifications had been established. From there, this type of vessel bearing the characteristics of the northern Tôhoku long-necked jar subsequently expanded over the region extending from the fortified area to the north, and class R3 items were produced at the Goshogawara kiln site. It is thought that the highly valued R1 class of banded long-necked jar, originally brought in as part of the government's program for dealing with the Emishi, degenerated into the hollow form of the R3 class, retaining only traces of its former decorative nature.
Keywords:
Banded long-necked jar; northern Tôhoku long-necked jar; Ôto kiln site; Goshogawara kiln site; classification; areas of distribution; Kofun to Heian periods; northern Japan
Investigations of Medieval Hill Fortresses in the Wakamiya Basin, Fukuoka Prefecture: One Aspect of the Military Situation of a Warlord (Munakata Ujisada) at the Time of Tenshô 9 (1581)
NAKAMURA OsamiAbstract:
In recent years, surveys of medieval hill fortresses in Fukuoka prefecture have progressed and various aspects of these sites have become known. At the Japanese Archaeological Association meeting in Okinawa in 1998 the author gave a presentation on "Medieval Hill Fortresses of Northern Kyushu." The gist of that presentation was to note the forms of various types of medieval hill fortresses such as tactical fortifications, residences, strategic fortresses, main castles, and so forth, and to state that these all changed in close connection with control over the domain.
With regard to strategic fortresses and main castles, a great amount of research has been conducted in connection with the development of cities and castle layout, etc., yielding considerable results. On the other hand, tactical fortifications and residential sites appear to have received very little scholarly treatment. The purpose of this presentation is to clarify the role that was played by simple and small-scale hill fortresses such as those called toride, hajiro, kiriyose, hoshô, and so forth, which can be regarded as tactical fortifications.
Examining conditions of northern Kyushu during the time when Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi were succeeding in converting domainal lords into a body of retainers and a standing army, and based on the results of an investigation of the distribution and layouts of hill fortresses in the Wakamiya basin of Fukuoka prefecture under the control of the Munakata line, as well as on documentary sources for the so-called Battle of Koganebaru in which the Tachibana and Munakata forces fought in the Wakamiya basin, it can be seen, from the perspectives of the significance of tactical fortifications to local administration, and the relations of hill fortresses to military organization, that at the time of Tenshô 9 (1581) the supervision and upkeep of the more than twenty hill fortresses located in the basin was not in the hands of the Munakata line, but that each village was deeply involved with a hill fortress, and that this military might based upon hill fortifications was thus held by small-scale local powers (at the village level).
Keywords:
Small-scale local powers and hill fortresses; northern Kyushu; end of the Medieval period (end of the sixteenth century)
Earthquake-induced Feature Related to a Building Podium at the Ashiya Abandoned Temple Site
SANGAWA Akira, MORIOKA Hideto and TAKEMURA TadahiroAbstract:
The Seisetsu region located in southern Hyôgo prefecture is an area where the remains of temples dating back to the period of Hakuhô culture in ancient times are rare, and the Ashiya abandoned temple site, surviving across a belt from Nishiyama-chô to Sanjô-chô in the city of Ashiya, is a valuable example of such a site. The sole ancient temple under the jurisdiction of Uhara county in Settsu province, it was presumably established at the end of the seventh century, and its environs, which contain Ashiya station on the San'yôdô, in addition to forming an ancient government office precinct, have yielded among other things the second oldest mokkan (wooden tablet) bearing a sexagenary date.
While some seventy excavations have been conducted since 1967, most of these have been small-scale investigations such as those made in conjunction with construction, and as the area is already urbanized it has not been possible to determine the layout of temple buildings, or even the exact extent of the temple grounds, up to the present day. Recently, during the excavation conducted by the Board of Education of Ashiya city at Location No. 62, in addition to the first discovery of features related to the central axis of the temple layout, a large earthquake-induced fissure, which drew attention as an archaeoseismologic feature of unprecedented size, was found to pierce a sturdily built podium surface.
The investigated site is located atop an alluvial fan of the Ashiya river measuring thirty meters in elevation and connecting with the Rokkô mountains, and blessed with a good view overlooking Osaka bay and a high and dry topographic setting. Excavation was conducted in Fiscal 1999 in conjunction with the construction of a multi-unit dwelling, and at least three occasions of ground preparation for the construction of a building podium were detected. The ages of the three prepared ground surfaces, based on the pottery recovered from dirt used for construction, were identified as forming a sequence from the bottom of III (latter half of the seventh century), II (predating the thirteenth century), and I (thirteenth century or later), with foundation stones for pillars accompanying surface I.
The earthquake-induced feature, which this paper seeks to introduce and ascertain historically, was determined to be a large-scale fissure measuring up to 1.0 m in width and over 6.5 m long, and piercing through the surface of the podium associated with prepared ground surface I, described above. From the relative ages of the artifacts which fell into the fissure and those of the overlying fill, this feature can be verified as a product of the Keichô-Fushimi earthquake of 1596, and from further examination of the sediment within the fissure it was possible to ascertain changes in environmental conditions immediately following the earthquake, and it is moreover worth noting in particular that the possibility of making comparisons with historic documents recording the conditions at the time of the earthquake was thereby clearly demonstrated. It is thought that the abandoned temple at Ashiya was obliged by damage from this calamity to extinguish its lamp of Buddhist teaching at the end of the Medieval period.
Keywords:
Abandoned temple site at Ashiya; Keichô-Fushimi earthquake; archaeoseismology; Asuka to Muromachi periods; Settsu region (southeastern Hyôgo prefecture)
Results of Excavation at the Miyahata Site
SAITÔ YoshihiroAbstract:
The Miyahata site has long been known as an area where Jômon pottery is found in scattered fashion, and in an excavation carried out in Fiscal 1997 in conjunction with construction of the Fujishima Industrial Park, embedded-pillar building remains, with a pillar remnant measuring 90 cm in diameter and dating from the Final Jômon period, were discovered. In Fiscal 1998-2000, in an investigation to determine the extent of the site conducted by the Board of Education of Fukushima city, in addition to a settlement composed of embedded-pillar buildings and buried urns of the Final Jômon, it became clear that the remains of settlements from the Middle and Late Jômon periods also exist in nearly the same area, and it was also verified that in each period a refuse dump was made to the west of the settlement.
The settlement of the Final Jômon centers on the periods of Ôbora BC and Ôbora C2 styles of pottery, with the remains of embedded-pillar buildings forming a ring, on the outside of which is a cluster of buried jars. The embedded-pillar building remains show signs of rebuilding, and many of the postholes are deep, in excess of one meter. Pit-dwellings are few in number by comparison. The locations of burial pits have not been determined.
Late Jômon period settlement has been verified for the early and middle portions of the period, but at present the situation regarding settlement in the final portion of the period remains unclear. A settlement with dwellings having stone-paved floors in the early portion of the period was maintained, with the remains of pit-dwellings and clusters of pits found over the southern half of the site, but burials having stone alignments are still unverified. In the middle portion of the Late Jômon, the settlement spread over a wider expanse at the site than in the early portion, and pits which may have been burials were found in the vicinity of pit-dwellings.
The composition of the settlement in the Middle Jômon has not been clearly ascertained, though settlement in the periods of Daigi 9 and 10 styles of pottery has been verified. The proportion of burned dwelling remains among the pit-dwellings is high, and there is a good possibility that these scorched remains are the result of the ritual burning of dwellings at the time of abandonment, or some similar custom of the times. From the conditions of discovery of the scorched dirt and carbonized materials, the roof is thought to have been an earthen structure, while from the thick accumulation of scorched earth in block form, it is thought that the conditions of burning differ from those for burned dwellings reported in investigations up to the present.
From the settlement layout of the Final Jômon and the adoption of stone-paved dwellings in the early portion of the Late Jômon, as well as from the dwelling structure and customs of the Middle Jômon, the Miyahata site can be regarded as one which provides important information for considerations of the social structure of the Jômon period.
Keywords:
Settlement structure; Jômon period; Tôhoku region
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