NEWS ARCHIVE
Rice remains in a Jomon site
Archaeologists at Okayama University have announced the discovery of rice remains from a Jomon site dated to 6,000 years BP. This immediately adds weight to the suspicion of many, that the Jomon era in Japan is in fact a Neolithic era in which hunting, gathering, and plant cultivation were important and mutually-compatible practices (PJM 20.2.05)
Jomon stone quarry in Nara-ken
A large stone quarry (c. 6,500 msq.) in Kashiba district, Nara Prefecture, was used from Jomon times into the Yayoi period. This discovery was reported in Japanese-language newspapers in early September, 2003. Dear readers: please tell us if any reports in English are found. More details will be posted here as they come to hand. (PJM 17.Sept.03)
Yayoi Period began 500 years earlier
New carbon dates for a Yayoi pottery site in Kyushu suggest that the Yayoi Period began 500 years earlier than previously thought, at about 3000 years before present (i.e. in the 10th century BC). The new date was reported by Imamura and others in a research group at the National Museum of Japanese History in Chiba. (see Yomiuru Shimbun, 20th May, 2003, for example).
The simplest way to interpret this, if the evidence is good, is that Yayoi and Jomon cultures coexisted within what is now Japan for a longer period of time than previously imagined. It is not necessary to assume the early presence of all elements of Yayoi culture that are known to be associated with more recent dates. Until further evidence is reported from this and other very early Yayoi sites, we cannot say very much about the significance of this new date (PJM 12.6.03).