ABSTRACT
Throughout the 10,000 years of the Japanese Jomon, although incipient cultivation may have played a part in the subsistence strategy, the basis of food exploitation appears largely to have been hunting and gathering. Broad spectrum exploitation of food sources from the sea, the rivers and the mountains in combination, rather than intensive use of a limited range of resources, has been demonstrated. However, exploitation patterns appear to vary considerably both regionally and chronologically. In particular, during the Middle, Late and Final phases (see Table 12.1) of the Jomon, a conspicuous increase in nut exploitation has been recognized over the Japanese archipelago, particularly of Castanea crenata (chestnut), Quercus spp. (acorn), Aesculus turbinata, (horse chestnut) and Juglans mandshurica var. sieboldiana (walnut) (see Tables 12.2 and 12.3 for details of botanical nomenclature used throughout this chapter). In addition, it has been suggested that in eastern Japan a relatively complex sedentary society became established, exploiting nuts as well as fisheries e.g., for salmon.
