Site Formation Processes and Long-term Changes in Land Use among Maritime Hunter-Gatherers: A Case Study at the Hamanaka-2 Site, Rebun Island, Hokkaido

Sakaguchi, Takashi

doi:10.1353/arc.2011.0031

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…For nearly a century, archaeologists have recognised the abundance of archaeological remains dating to the Okhotsk cultural period in the Funadomari Bay area [40]. Archaeological excavations started in the region in 1949, focusing on the Hamanaka 2 site complex and unearthed pottery, hearths, shell-middens, marine mammal remains, human burials, and house pits, suggesting residential activities at the site during the Okhotsk period [41]. The most recent excavation campaign at Hamanaka 2 was conducted by the BHAP starting in 2011.…”

Section: Study Site and Environmental Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barley (Hordeum vulgare) in the Okhotsk culture (5th–10th century AD) of northern Japan and the role of cultivated plants in hunter–gatherer economies

et al. 2017

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This paper discusses archaeobotanical remains of naked barley recovered from the Okhotsk cultural layers of the Hamanaka 2 archaeological site on Rebun Island, northern Japan. Calibrated ages (68% confidence interval) of the directly dated barley remains suggest that the crop was used at the site ca. 440–890 cal yr AD. Together with the finds from the Oumu site (north-eastern Hokkaido Island), the recovered seed assemblage marks the oldest well-documented evidence for the use of barley in the Hokkaido Region. The archaeobotanical data together with the results of a detailed pollen analysis of contemporaneous sediment layers from the bottom of nearby Lake Kushu point to low-level food production, including cultivation of barley and possible management of wild plants that complemented a wide range of foods derived from hunting, fishing, and gathering. This qualifies the people of the Okhotsk culture as one element of the long-term and spatially broader Holocene hunter–gatherer cultural complex (including also Jomon, Epi-Jomon, Satsumon, and Ainu cultures) of the Japanese archipelago, which may be placed somewhere between the traditionally accepted boundaries between foraging and agriculture. To our knowledge, the archaeobotanical assemblages from the Hokkaido Okhotsk culture sites highlight the north-eastern limit of prehistoric barley dispersal. Seed morphological characteristics identify two different barley phenotypes in the Hokkaido Region. One compact type (naked barley) associated with the Okhotsk culture and a less compact type (hulled barley) associated with Early–Middle Satsumon culture sites. This supports earlier suggestions that the “Satsumon type” barley was likely propagated by the expansion of the Yayoi culture via south-western Japan, while the “Okhotsk type” spread from the continental Russian Far East region, across the Sea of Japan. After the two phenotypes were independently introduced to Hokkaido, the boundary between both barley domains possibly existed ca. 600–1000 cal yr AD across the island region. Despite a large body of studies and numerous theoretical and conceptual debates, the question of how to differentiate between hunter–gatherer and farming economies persists reflecting the wide range of dynamic subsistence strategies used by humans through the Holocene. Our current study contributes to the ongoing discussion of this important issue.

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Section: Study Site and Environmental Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barley (Hordeum vulgare) in the Okhotsk culture (5th–10th century AD) of northern Japan and the role of cultivated plants in hunter–gatherer economies

et al. 2017

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“…A short summary of Rebun archaeology provided by Sakaguchi (2007aSakaguchi ( , 2007b points out that the oldest remains of human activities on Rebun Island are Palaeolithic microblades, microcores and tanged projectile points dating to c. 22,000-13,000 cal. yr BP.…”

Section: Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is plausible that Rebun and Rishiri islands represent an important link in terms of prehistoric human migrations and cultural exchanges between Hokkaido and adjacent regions. A short summary of Rebun archaeology provided by Sakaguchi (2007aSakaguchi ( , 2007b points out that the oldest remains of human activities on Rebun Island are Palaeolithic microblades, microcores and tanged projectile points dating to c. 22,000-13,000 cal. yr BP.…”

Section: Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Palaeobotanical records from Rebun Island and their potential for improving the chronological control and understanding human–environment interactions in the Hokkaido Region, Japan

et al. 2016

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Rebun Island with Hamanaka and Funadomari among the 43 documented archaeological sites and the environmental archive stored in the Lake Kushu sediment proves to be one of the key areas to study the interplay between ecology, climate and human activities. This paper focuses on the potential of palaeobotanical records from Rebun Island for improving the chronological control and understanding of late Quaternary climate changes and habitation environments of northern hunter-gatherers in the Hokkaido Region of Japan. A set of 57 radiocarbon dates of the RK12 core (Lake Kushu) demonstrates that it represents a continuous environmental archive covering the last c. 17,000 years. The RK12 pollen record reflects distinct vegetation changes associated with the onset of the lateglacial warming about 15,000 cal. yr BP and the cold climate reversal after c. 13,000 cal. yr BP. The onset of the current Holocene interglacial after c. 11,700 cal. yr BP is marked by a major spread of trees. The middle Holocene ( c. 8000–4000 cal. yr BP) is characterized by a major spread of deciduous oak in the vegetation cover reflecting a temperature increase. A decline of oak and spread of fir and pine is recorded at c. 2000 cal. yr BP. After c. 1100 cal. yr BP, arboreal pollen percentages decrease, possibly linked to intensified usage of wood during the Okhotsk and Ainu culture periods. The results of diatom analysis suggest marshy or deltaic environments at the RK12 coring site prior to c. 10,500 cal. yr BP and a brackish lagoon between c. 10,500 and 7000 cal. yr BP. A freshwater lake developed after 6500 cal. yr BP, likely reflecting sea level stabilization and formation of the sand bar separating the Kushu depression from the sea. Plant macrofossil analysis shows use of various wild plants and also domesticated barley during the Okhotsk and Ainu periods.

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“…Since the season of fish migration does not drastically differ, seasonality of occupation should have no essential effect on available fish populations for the Epi-Jomon and Okhotsk communities. Nonetheless, although the larger Pacific cod come closer to the coast during winter (Fisheries Agency 2019, 2020), archaeological evidence suggested that Hamanaka 2 was used mainly in summer and spring during the Epi-Jomon period (Kato 2015;Sakaguchi 2007). Therefore, seasonal occupation in this case would result in an opposite effect on the size of cod caught.…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstruction of diachronic changes in human fishing activity and marine ecosystems from carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios of archaeological fish remains

Tsutaya

Takahashi

Omori

et al. 2022

Quaternary International

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Site Formation Processes and Long-term Changes in Land Use among Maritime Hunter-Gatherers: A Case Study at the Hamanaka-2 Site, Rebun Island, Hokkaido

Cited by 10 publications

References 15 publications

Barley (Hordeum vulgare) in the Okhotsk culture (5th–10th century AD) of northern Japan and the role of cultivated plants in hunter–gatherer economies

Barley (Hordeum vulgare) in the Okhotsk culture (5th–10th century AD) of northern Japan and the role of cultivated plants in hunter–gatherer economies

Palaeobotanical records from Rebun Island and their potential for improving the chronological control and understanding human–environment interactions in the Hokkaido Region, Japan

Reconstruction of diachronic changes in human fishing activity and marine ecosystems from carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios of archaeological fish remains

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