Abstract

Recent archaeobotanical research in northeastern Japan has demonstrated the presence of buckwheat, millets, rice and other domesticates in Jomon contexts. In this paper it is argued that the introduction of domesticated plants may not have caused major changes in Jomon subsistence. It is further suggested that rice dispersed into northeastern Japan independently of wet-paddy technology, and its spread may not have been significantly slowed by cultural and ecological factors. Instead, the character of later Jomon settlement and subsistence in the northeast may have facilitated the introduction of wet-paddy rice agriculture.