“Evolution and Migration of Early Humans to the Japanese Archipelago”
Humans were born in Africa about 7 million years ago. Later, during the evolutionary process, humans were divided into different species, such as apes, proto-humans, paleo-humans, and newcomers, and tried to survive in various regions. This evolutionary process was complex, and humans repeatedly adapted and changed their appearance in response to climatic and environmental changes on the planet. In particular, the newcomers (Homo sapiens, present humans), who emerged about 200,000 years ago, had many characteristics that differentiated them from other human species. They possessed advanced language skills, used tools, formed societies, and developed cultures.
Newcomers are thought to have arrived in the Japanese archipelago about 40,000 years ago. The migration to the Japanese Islands was the result of a lowering of the sea level at that time, which enabled migration from Africa to Asia and then to the Japanese Islands. In the process, large mammals such as mammoths and Naumann elephants migrated to the Japanese Islands. Then, in pursuit of these animals, newcomers set foot on this land. The history of humans in the Japanese archipelago continues from the Paleolithic Era, which began about 25,000 years ago. This period was divided into the first half and the second half after the huge eruption of the Aira Caldera about 30,000 years ago, which was followed by the Jomon Period.
Fossil human bones found in the Paleolithic period include the Minatogawa people (about 18,000 years ago) and the Hamakita people (about 21,000 to 17,000 years ago), all of which are also known to belong to the Neogene. The roots of these people are confirmed to be those who lived in the southern part of the Asian continent from ancient times and are the ancestors of the Jomon people.
“Development of Jomon Culture: Pottery, Subsistence, and Social Practices in Ancient Japan”
Approximately 11,500 years ago, the Earth’s climate rapidly warmed, resulting in a change in the natural environment to a state similar to the present (Holocene epoch). This warming also brought about a drastic change in vegetation, shifting from coniferous forests to deciduous broad-leaved forests such as beech and oak in eastern Japan, and to broad-leaved forests such as shii and oak in western Japan. The Jomon culture was established to cope with these environmental changes. The Jomon period was characterized by a lifestyle centered on hunting, gathering, and fishing, and the targets of hunting were medium-sized animals such as deer and wild boars.
Earthenware first appeared about 16,500 years ago, and while the early use of earthenware was limited to a small amount, the use of earthenware rapidly increased about 15,000 years ago. Then, about 11,500 years ago, the Jomon culture began in earnest, and the use of earthenware became more active. This enabled people to cook a wide variety of foods, and their diet became richer and broader.
The Jomon people lived a lifestyle that combined hunting, gathering, and fishing, with hunting being done on medium-sized animals. As the climate warmed, plants also changed, and earthenware became indispensable for gathering and cooking hard fruits such as chestnuts, walnuts, horse chestnuts, and acorns. Cooking methods included removing scum and boiling, and the use of earthenware was an essential part of people’s diets. Processing tools such as stone plates and grindstones for grinding nuts into flour were also developed, and efficient use of foodstuffs was promoted.
Fishing was also a thriving activity, and bone horn fishhooks, illusion heads, and clay and stone weights (clay and stone weights) attached to nets were used to catch fish and shellfish. Shellfish, salmon, trout, and other marine products were also important food sources, and these lifestyles continued for more than 10,000 years. Thus, it is clear that the people of the Jomon period adapted to their natural environment and lived a rich dietary life.
The Jomon period lasted more than 10,000 years, during which time the shapes and patterns of earthenware changed. People of the Jomon period lived a sedentary lifestyle and lived in pit dwellings. Particularly in the Early Period, settlements with graves and living quarters built around a central plaza emerged, with ring settlements being a typical example. The formation of settlements caused increased contact with other areas for resources, and materials such as shell ornaments, obsidian, sanukite, jade, and kohaku became widely distributed.
Although the Jomon people did not have writing, they decorated their bodies and materials to give them meaning and information. In particular, body modification, such as the extraction of adult canine and incisor teeth, and the forcible grinding of incisors, functioned as a means of indicating personal origins. Most of the dead were buried in single burials, with reburials increasing after the middle period. The bodies were buried in the bent burial style, and clay figurines in the shape of women and stone poles in the shape of male genitalia were made as tools to express people’s prayers for abundance and fertility.
In the Japanese archipelago during the Paleolithic period, hunting was practiced mainly in pursuit of animals, and small groups of several families or dozens of people moved around. At first, hunting was focused on large mammals, but environmental changes caused large mammals to disappear and medium-sized mammals became the target of hunting. In particular, large pitfalls were found in some areas on the Pacific side of the island, and it is assumed that they caught herds of migrating deer.
The Paleolithic lifestyle has been revealed through excavations at the Iwajuku Site (Gunma Prefecture) and Lake Nojiri Bottom Site (Nagano Prefecture). At the Iwajuku site, stone tools were discovered on a red clay cliff face, proving that people lived in the Japanese archipelago during the Ice Age. In addition, at the Lake Nojiri Bottom Site, fossils of the giant horned deer and Naumann elephant, stone tools, earthenware, and bone tools have been unearthed, which depict in detail the lifestyle and culture of the people of that time.
As the people of the Japanese archipelago moved through the Jomon period and into the Yayoi period, their lives became more diverse. They continued to adapt to their environment while adopting new technologies and cultures. Thus, the ancient history of Japan shows that changes in people’s lifestyles, culture, and social structure, along with geographical and environmental factors, are closely related.