Calibrated ¹⁴C Ages of Jomon Sites, NE Japan, and their Significance

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The traditional archaeological chronology in the Japanese Islands during the Jomon period was essentially based on the relative age given to cord-impressed patterns marked on pottery, as well as the shape of the pottery and the thickness of the cultural layers that were excavated. We aimed to correlate the classical archaeological chronology with calibrated radiocarbon dates, to posit a new chronology for the Jomon period in northeastern Japan. We calibrated 80 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14 C dates from NE Japan and reconstructed a chronological timetable for Hokkaido and the Tohoku District. We collected 43 samples from 5 shellmounds and 2 archaeological sites on Hokkaido Island and 4 shellmounds in the Tohoku District in order to determine the calibrated age of their sites. R values used on Hokkaido Island and the Tohoku District were between 282 and 158 yr and between ±0 and 40 yr, respectively. The large R value for the eastern part of Hokkaido Island indicates the influence of the Oyashio Current, while an anomalous R value was obtained from northern Hokkaido Island. These figures show larger apparent R values than those from southwest Japan (Nakamura et al.

Last millennium climate change in the occupation and abandonment of Palau's Rock Islands

“…Unlike many instances of 'chronometric hygiene' in the Pacific that focus on 14 C sample integrity and cultural association (Anderson 1991;Hunt and Lipo 2006;Wilmshurst et al 2011) the reassessment of radiocarbon dates from Rock Island village sites is largely the result of inconsistencies in laboratory measurement and reporting of radiocarbon ages in the 1970-1980s. Marine shell determinations from Ulebsechel measured at the Japan Isotope Association are excluded as they were reported without measuring isotope fractionation, and it is unclear if the laboratory normalized to NBS Oxalic acid (Omoto et al 2010); without this information we are unable to report the correct 14 C age or to calibrate results to a calendar age. Age results on pot sherds from Ulong (Osborne 1979: 237) are unreliable (Anderson et al 2005), and we also exclude determinations from burial caves, temporary camps and Yapese stone money quarries in the Rock Islands (Metuker ra Bisech, Orrack, Chomedokl) as samples came from potentially mixed sediments affected by wave action, grave digging and limestone extraction (Fitzpatrick 2003a(Fitzpatrick , 2003bBerger et al 2008).…”

The origins of pottery in East Asia: updated analysis (the 2015 state-of-the-art)

“…Since the publication of summary works in the early 2000s (Ono et al 2002;Keally et al 2003;, supplemented by more recent overviews (Omoto et al 2010;Kuzmin 2013a), the situation with the earliest pottery corresponding to the Incipient Jomon of Japan has been consistent. The oldest 14 C dates, c. 13 500-13 800 BP (centred at c. 17 000 calBP), come from the northern part of Honshu Island at the Odai Yamamoto 1 site (Fig.…”

Resilience and the population history of the Kuril Islands, Northwest Pacific: A study in complex human ecodynamics

“…The top bar indicates relative temperature change based on palynological evidence (Razjigaeva et al 2013). The bottom bar shows cultural historical period designation (Omoto et al, 2010). Large asterisks indicate caldera forming eruptions and small asterisks indicate major non-caldera eruptions.…”