Abstract

This research focuses on prehistoric subsistence and the development of farming in northeastern Japan. Archaeobotanical sampling was carried out in Aomori prefecture at sites dating to the Middle Jomon Period, ca. 3000-2500 B.C.; the Tokoshinai I and IV phases of the Late Jomon, ca. 2500-1000 B.C.; and, to the Fukurashima phase of the Tohoku Yayoi, ca. 150 B.C. Distributional analyses of plant remains recovered from pithouse floors and other contexts are undertaken, and it is demonstrated that archaeobotanical remains can reflect the depositional history of these features. Plant remains recovered from the Late Middle Jomon Tominosawa site suggest a focus on weed seed procurement, similar to contemporary sites found nearby on the southwestern portion of the island of Hokkaido. The Kazahari site produced evidence of Tokoshinai IV phase rice and foxtail and broomcom millet dating to 2540±240B.P. (TO-2202). Sampling of later Fukurashima phase contexts at Kazahari produced evidence of rice, foxtail and broomcom millet, Japanese bamyard millet, and hemp. These data demonstrate that rice and millets were present in northeastern Aomori since the Tokoshinai IV phase, and that mixed farming systems were in place during later Fukurashima phase occupations. Ecological and ethnographic evidence is used to postulate that farming may have been present in northeastern Aomori at a time shortly after the first known occurrence of rice in southwestern Japan. This observation implies that the movement north of rice farming may not have been greatly affected by cultural and ecological factors. The processes involved in the development and diffusion of farming into northeastern Japan are sotnewhat comparable to those evidenced in other temperate regions.