ABSTRACT

The role of volcanism in archaeology and cultural change in Japan is graphically demonstrated in Ibusuki, described by the excavator (Hamada, 1921) as the ‘Pompeii or Santorini of the prehistoric era in Japan’. In Ibusuki, Hamada demonstrated that the Jomon pottery types in use before the eruption were older and distinctly different from the Yayoi pottery found in the post-disaster stratigraphy. The volcanic disaster is therefore associated with a distinct change in the cultural assemblage.