1. Ancient Japan: "Prehistorical" Jômon and Yayoi

Japanese “prehistorical” periods:

1.   JÔMON 縄文 (10,500-BCE-400 BCE) “cord-marked” (referring to pottery of the period in which cords were impressed to create designs in the clay)

2.   YAYOI 弥生 (400 BCE-300 CE) The term “Yayoi” refers to a site in the Tokyo-area where objects from this period were first excavated

3.   KOFUN 古墳 (300-710 CE) “ancient tomb”

What does it mean to call these periods “prehistorical?”   Are they without history?   How can we understand their history even if we do not have written stories about them ( historia )?   What kinds of stories can objects tell us?

Jômon 10-500 BCE-400 BCE

hunting and gathering communities, at the end of the period located primarily on the eastern and northern coast of Honshu (the central large island)

dogu 土 偶:   clay figurines, sometimes interpreted as “fertility figures” (fig. 10, 11, 12, 13)

hara 腹:   the “heart-line” extending from chin to navel on many dogu (fig. 13)

pit houses: partially underground, supported by interior posts and covered with thatched roofs that extended to the ground; average size varies from about 215 square feet in the initial Jomon period to 2,151 square feet at the end of the Jomon (requiring 15 to 20 days for one person to dig the pit and 50 to 100 days to construct the house). Intact dogu found under hearth areas. (fig. 4)

burial sites at center of villages

burial sites outside of village:   kromlech stone circles, burial sites for shamans? (fig. 14)

shaman:   a woman or man who is said to have the special ability to communicate with the dead, to travel between the world of the living and the “otherworld” or the world of the dead

Yayoi 400 BCE-300 CE

•  transition to rice cultivation

•  bronze-casting

•  use of potter's wheel

Yoshinogari site 吉野ヶ里 , Saga Prefecture 佐賀県, Kyushu Island (the northern area of Kyushu)

dôtaku 銅鐸 :   bronze bells usually decorated with outlined designs.   The shape developed in China, where dotaku functioned as musical instruments used in ritual ceremonies; in Japan they functioned solely as ritual objects and were not used to make music (fig. 20)