Simon Fraser University

Tel: 778.782.5790 • Fax: 778.782.5666 • Email: adandrea@sfu.ca

 

>Figure 1. Location of Mendes. Map produced by L.A. Pavlish, University of Toronto.

Map 1. Location of Kazahari, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. Map produced by R. Cunha, University of Toronto.

Kazahari

Palaeoethnobotanical investigations in northeastern Japan have focused on Kazahari and several other sites in the northeast, on projects associated with Gary Crawford (University of Toronto) and Masakazu Yoshizaki (Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan). Kazahari is located on the outskirts of Hachinohe city, Aomori Prefecture, Japan (Figures 1 and 2). Occupations date to the end of the Jomon period. The floors of Pithouses 32 (Figure 3) and 37 were intensively sampled for charred plant remains, in addition to several other contexts. Charred plant remains were extracted by machine-assisted flotation (Figure 4). Two rice grains recovered from Pithouse 32 have been radiocarbon dated by IsoTrace Laboratory (University of Toronto) using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry to 2540±40 and 2810±270 b.p. (TO-2202, 4086) (Figure 5). The presence of rice in northeastern Japan at this early time has suggested that the dispersal northward of rice took place more rapidly than was previously believed. Pithouse 37 which dates to the Final Jomon (first millennium BC) has produced the remains of a wide variety of domesticated plants, including rice, foxtail millet and Japanese barnyard millet (Figure 6), suggesting that plant cultivation was integrated into the Jomon way of life.

 

Figure 2. Kazahari site general view. Photograph taken by A.C. D'Andrea, 1989.

Figure 2. Kazahari site general view. Photograph taken by A.C. D'Andrea, 1989. [Enlarge]

Figure 3. Excavation of Pithouse 32 at Kazahari. Photograph taken by A.C. D'Andrea, 1989.

Figure 3. Excavation of Pithouse 32 at Kazahari. Photograph taken by A.C. D'Andrea, 1989. [Enlarge]

Figure 4. Machine-assisted flotation of Kazahari sediments. Photograph taken by Y. Tsubakisaka, Hokkaido University, 1989.

Figure 4. Machine-assisted flotation of Kazahari sediments. Photograph taken by Y. Tsubakisaka, Hokkaido University, 1989. [Enlarge]

Figure 5. Domesticated Japanese barnyard millet (Echinochloa utilis) recovered from Final Jomon Pithouse 37 at Kazahari. Micrograph taken by Y. Tsubakisaka, 1989. 

Figure 5. Domesticated Japanese barnyard millet (Echinochloa utilis) recovered from Final Jomon Pithouse 37 at Kazahari. Micrograph taken by Y. Tsubakisaka, 1989. [Enlarge]

Figure 6. One of two AMS-dated rice (Oryza sativa var. japonica) grains recovered from the floor of Pithouse 32 which contained Late Jomon ceramics. Photograph taken by A.C. D'Andrea, 1994. 

Figure 6. One of two AMS-dated rice (Oryza sativa var. japonica) grains recovered from the floor of Pithouse 32 which contained Late Jomon ceramics. Photograph taken by A.C. D'Andrea, 1994. [Enlarge]