
The Shellmidden or Shellmound Period (Japanese: 貝塚時代, ''Kaizuka jidai'') is one of the periods of the
prehistory
Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...
of the Okinawa and Amami Islands.
It is defined as the period of the prehistory in the Amami and Okinawa Islands with
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...
. It lasts from 8000 BCE to the 11th or 12th centuries CE.
The culture that develops during this period is called the Shellmidden Culture (Japanese: 貝塚文化, ''Kaizuka bunka''). It is divided into Early and Late Shellmidden Period, the difference residing in a shift in the settlement location and the development of trade with the neighbouring cultures, first Japan, and then China and Korea.
Economy is mainly based on gathering, fishing and hunting, the principal resources exploited being acorns, fishes and shellfishes. Settlements are limited in size, with the apparition of perennial villages by the end of the Early Shellmidden Period. The material culture is dominated by an important pottery production and very characteristic bone and shell artefacts.
From the 12th century, the Shellmidden Culture is followed by the
Gusuku Culture
The is an era in the history of the Ryukyu Islands, an island chain now part of Japan. The period corresponds to the spread of agriculture and Japonic culture from Japan alongside increased social organization, eventually leading to endemic wa ...
, the first agricultural culture of the Okinawa Islands.
[
In the ]Sakishima Islands
The (or 先島群島, ''Sakishima-guntō'') (Okinawan language, Okinawan: ''Sachishima'', Miyakoan language, Miyako: ''Saksїzїma'', Yaeyama language, Yaeyama: ''Sakїzїma'', Yonaguni language, Yonaguni: ''Satichima'') are an archipelago loca ...
, the southernmost part of the Ryūkyū Archipelago, the period parallel to the Okinawan Shellmidden Period is called the Sakishima Prehistoric Period. The Amami Islands, the northernmost part of the Ryūkyū Archipelago, first showed strong cultural relation with the Shellmidden Culture, before they shifted and got closer to the Japanese cultural sphere.
Divisions
Divisions
Shellmidden Period chronologies started being developed by the 1950s. The term of "Shellmidden Period" was introduced by the Okinawa Archaeological Society in 1978.
Tawada Chronology / Current Chronology
The "Current Chronology" is based on the one established by Shinjun Tawada during the 1950s to the 1980s.
The period is called the Shellmidden Period and is divided into Initial Shellmidden Period, Early Shellmidden Period, Middle Shellmidden Period and Late Shellmidden Period. The Initial Shellmidden Period is further divided into Early Phase, Middle Phase and Late Phase.
The Initial Shellmidden Period broadly goes from 8000+ BCE to 2200 BCE, the Early Shellmidden Period goes from 2200 BCE to 1200 BCE, the Middle Shellmidden Period from 1200 BCE to 300 BCE and the Late Shellmidden Period goes from 300 BCE to the 11th-12th centuries CE.
Takamiya Chronology
This chronology, established by Hiroe Takamiya in the 1960s to the 1980s is very widely used by the Okinawan scholars.[ The term "Shellmidden Period" is sometimes replaced by "Okinawan Neolithic Period". The period is divided into the Early Shellmidden Period and the Late Shellmidden Period. The Late Shellmidden Period is sometimes called the Uruma Period. The Early Shellmidden Period is divided into Phases I to V, the Late Shellmidden Period in Phases I to IV. In recent articles, it is rather divided into two phases than four (Phases I and II).
The Early Shellmidden Period Phase I goes from 8000+ BCE to 4300 BCE, Phase II from 4300 BCE to 3200 BCE, Phase III from 3200 BCE to 2200 BCE, Phase IV from 2200 BCE to 1300 BCE, Phase V from 1300 BCE to 300 BCE. The Late Shellmidden Period Phase I goes from 300 BCE to 600 CE; Phase II from 600 CE to 1100 CE.
Okinawa Prefecture Chronology
This chronology was established by the Editorial Committee of Okinawa Prefecture History in 2003.][ It is broadly based on the divisions established by Takamiya, but uses a Japanese terminology, naming the Early Shellmidden Period the "Jōmon Period" and the Late Shellmidden Period the "Period that is contemporaneous of the Yayoi to Heian Periods" (Japanese: 弥生~平安並行時代). It is mainly used in the publications by the Okinawa Prefectural Archaeological Center and the Prefectural Museum.
]
Relations between the Shellmidden Culture of Okinawa/Amami and the Jōmon Culture of Japan
There are at least three points of view concerning the relations between the Shellmidden Culture of Okinawa/Amami and the Jōmon Culture of Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
.[
The Shellmidden Culture is a sub-culture of the Japanese Jōmon Culture, and the Japanese divisions of the Jōmon Period should be applied.
This point of view used to be defended by, inter alia, Hiroe Takamiya and Isamu Chinen.
Based on the first discoveries of prehistoric pottery in Okinawa (Matsumura in 1920, Tawada in 1956), the Shellmidden Period pottery was identified to Jōmon pottery. Takamiya said that the two cultures were identical at least until the phase of the Sobata Type Pottery and then gradually differed from the Early or Middle Jōmon, leading to the creation of an original culture in the Ryūkyū Archipelago. Chinen said that not only the pottery was similar, but also the lithics and bone artefacts. He said that other archaeologists insisted too much on the differences (absence of cord marking on pottery, absence of ]dogū
are small humanoid and animal figurines made during the later part of the Jōmon period (14,000–400 BC) of prehistoric Japan. ''Dogū'' come exclusively from the Jōmon period, and were no longer made by the following Yayoi period. There are ...
ritual statuettes, absence of ritual stone sceptres, absence of storage pits) instead of focusing on the similarities.
The Shellmidden Culture and the Jōmon Culture are distinct cultures, focusing on the differences between the two cultures.
This point of view is defended by, inter alia, Shiichi Tōma, Michio Okamura, Naoko Kinoshita or Kensaku Hayashi.
The first three insist on the differences in the spiritual culture, with the absence of dogū ritual statuettes or ritual stone sceptres from sites of the Shellmidden Period in Okinawa, the fact that what is considered as jōmon cultural traits in the Shellmidden Culture, such as pit dwellings, crouched burials of humans and dogs or the burning of houses are in fact traits found in many north-east Asian cultures, while the elements that can only be found in the Jōmon Culture are absent and the fact that the body ornaments (bracelets, pendants, beads, shark teeth, earrings, butterfly-shaped artefacts) are completely different in the two cultures. Hayashi insists on the difference in the way of life, with people of the Jōmon Culture having the habit of digging storage pits to store food, which is a trait that is hardly seen in the Shellmidden Culture.
The Shellmidden Pottery is Jōmon Pottery, but the Shellmidden Culture is not Jōmon Culture, a point of view accepting both the similarities and differences of the two cultures.
This point of view is mainly defended by Shinji Itō.
He says that despite the fact certain particularities can be observed in the shapes, the pottery of the northern part of the Ryūkyū during the Jōmon Period should be called the Ryūkyū Jōmon Pottery, that there is, as far as pottery is concerned, a frontier that can be seen between the Tokara Islands
The is an archipelago in the Nansei Islands, and are part of the Satsunan Islands, which is in turn part of the Ryukyu Archipelago. The chain consists of twelve small islands located between Yakushima and Amami-Oshima. The islands have a total ...
and the Kumage Islands and that the Shellmidden Culture was born from the conjunction of three natural conditions (the existence of a subtropical forest, the existence of coral reefs that help provide a stable supply in marine resources, and an environment propitious to the wild boars).
Introduction
There are many sites of the Palaeolithic Period in the Okinawa and Sakishima Islands that yielded fossil human remains. There is then an interregnum with no archaeological sites, from 10,000 to 8000 BCE in the Okinawa Islands and from 18,000 to 5000 BCE in the Sakishima Islands. It is not clear if the populations of the Shimotabaru Culture in the Sakishima Islands, or the ones of the Shellmidden Culture in the Okinawa Islands, are related to the previous palaeolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...
populations.[
]
Early Shellmidden Period
Since the Shellmidden Period is defined as the period of the prehistory with pottery, its upper limit is regularly pushed earlier with the successive discoveries of older pottery. It is currently placed by 8000 BCE.
The fundamental components of the Shellmidden Culture though, mainly appear during the Early Shellmidden Period Phase III, which is considered as an essential stage for the development of the culture, when the coral reefs reach their maturity.[
]
Livelihood
A great diversity of vegetal resources is used as soon as the beginning of the Early Shellmidden Period: 30 types of different vegetal remains were identified in Aragusuku-shichabaru 2 Site (Ginowan-Chatan) from the Early Shellmidden Period Phase I, 60 types in Ireibaru Site (Chatan) from Phase II or in Mēbaru Site (Ginoza) from Phase IV.
The use of acorns is documented as early as the Early Shellmidden Period Phase I in Amami (Hangō Site, 11400-11200 cal.BP) and Phase II in Okinawa (Ireibaru Site), and perdures throughout the period, with an extensive collect of chinquapin beech
Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...
and Okinawan oak
An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
acorns. In Ireibaru (Phase II) and Mēbaru (Phase III) the acorns have been found in bamboo baskets placed in water to wash the tannin
Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and Precipitation (chemistry), precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' is widel ...
before they could be eaten. Sites with physical remains of the ecofacts are scarce, but the extensive presence of hammers, anvils and grinding stones, related to the processing of the acorns on sites from the whole period tells the relative importance of the acorns in the diet. From these tools it seems that the acorns were first cracked opened and then reduced to flour[
At the beginning of the Early Shellmidden Period, during Phase I, proteins are essentially obtained through the hunt of ]wild boar
The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...
s. Bows and arrows are introduced, very probably from Jōmon Japan. Pit traps have also been found (arranged in lines in Futenma Kushibaru 2 Site, Early Shellmidden Phase IV). However, by 6000 yBP, as the coral reef
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...
s start to appear, the economy begins to shift towards a dependence to marine resources, the percentage of wild boars in the diet decreasing constantly during Phase II and staying very low compared to the marine resources for the rest of the Shellmidden Period (including the Late Shellmidden Period). During Phases I and II the coral reefs are not yet very developed and the resources are scarce. Starting from Phase III the marine resources retrieved from the archaeological sites greatly increase, and their variety (dugongs, sea turtles, reef fishes and shellfishes...) show that the shallow parts of the coral reefs (inō), easily reached at low tide, are widely exploited. The appearance of artefacts interpreted as fishnet sinkers in Phase III hints at the development of the fishing techniques.[
]
Settlements
The oldest sites in the Early Shellmidden Period are mainly found in caves and on the sand hills by the coast (ex. Yabuchi Cave, Noguni Shellmound Group). In the Early Shellmidden Period Phase IV, the sites are rather concentrating more inland in the higher areas, and in the Early Shellmidden Period Phase V, sites present concentrations of pit-dwellings gathered in villages. At the very end of the period, the sites start to shift toward the sand dunes along the coast, that will be their preferred location during the following Late Shellmidden Period.[
Most settlements present a combination of smaller (2x2m or 3x3m) and larger (5x5m) dwellings, generally squared with rounded angles (circular ones also exist). Although most of the identified dwellings are pit-dwellings with a line of small limestone boulders on their periphery (Ufuta III Site, Nakabaru Site...), there are also some without the limestone lining, or stone-paved dwellings, not necessarily dug into the ground (the Shinugudō Site in Miyagi Island has 42 pit dwellings, with and without stone liming, and 12 stone-paved ones). All those types are found during the Early Shellmidden Period Phase V and the fine chronology of their appearance is still discussed.]
Material Culture
Pottery
The oldest earthenware
Earthenware is glazed or unglazed Vitrification#Ceramics, nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids ...
from Amami and Okinawa has long been thought to be the Iha and Ogidō types, currently dated of Early Shellmidden Phase IV. Then, with the successive excavations, the introduction of pottery in Amami and Okinawa appeared older and older, and recent discoveries have been dated around 10,000 BP both in Amami (Shitabaru Cave) and Okinawa (Yabuchi Cave).[
Recent tries at sorting and nomenclature have produced the following tentative chronology for the Early Shellmidden Period Phase I: Sekishoku-jōsenmon types (red with striated patterns, 10,000~7,400 BP) → yūken-oshibikimon types (shouldered with impressed patterns 8,900~8,000 BP) → mumon-usude types (thin unadorned 8,000~6,900 BP) → Nantō-tsumegatamon types (adorned with fingerprints or nail incisions 7,300~6,600 BP).][
During Phase II appear the Jōkonmon types (linear mark patterns).][
As far as it is possible to deduce it from the diffusion of pottery styles, it seems that the cultural spheres in the Okinawa and Amami Islands fluctuate a lot.
Starting with Phase III, local types with a strong identity (particular designs in the decorative patterns) develop (Murokawa-kasō pottery, Omonawa-zentei pottery...). This is during this phase as well that the characteristic closed "tsubo" shapes appear and that a specific ceramic culture area going from the Tokara Islands to the Okinawa Islands starts to be defined.][
At the beginning of Phase IV, the common cultural sphere seems to englobe all the Okinawa and Amami Islands, with very similar pottery produced in the whole area. Despite differences in the local earth available, all potteries present a very sandy component.][
Regional characteristics appear again as soon as the second half of Phase IV, although the cultural spheres overlap: the Iha, Ogidō and Ōyama types are produced in the Okinawa Islands and the south of the Amami Islands, and the Katoku IB and Katoku II types in the north and the south of the Amami Islands. The southern Amami Islands seems to mix the influences of both the cultural spheres.][
A common identity develops anew during Phase V and is even already visible in similarities between the late Ōyama pottery examples and the early Omonawa-seidō type of Amami at the very end of Phase IV. Although the pottery types produced in the two areas at the very beginning of Phase V are distinct (Murokawa and Murokawa-jōsō for Okinawa and Omonawa-seidō and Inutabu in Amami), they seem to constantly influence each other, with similarities in shapes but differences in decorative patterns. The convergence culminates by the middle of Phase V, with types such as Ushuku-jōsō / Uzahama or Kinen I common to Okinawa and Amami. At the end of Phase V, the Nakabaru type pottery introduces new shapes, such as shallow bowls and plates that will become more common in the following Aharen'ura-kasō type of the Late Shellmidden Period.]
Lithic
There is no such striking evolution in the stone tool
Stone tools have been used throughout human history but are most closely associated with prehistoric cultures and in particular those of the Stone Age. Stone tools may be made of either ground stone or knapped stone, the latter fashioned by a ...
s: the lithic assemblage is practically complete by the end of Phase II, and only refines in the following phases. Most of the tools are ground, very few are just knapped
Knapping is the shaping of flint, chert, obsidian, or other conchoidal fracturing stone through the process of lithic reduction to manufacture stone tools, strikers for flintlock firearms, or to produce flat-faced stones for building or facing w ...
. Pressure flaking is almost not observed. The main components are stone axe
An axe (; sometimes spelled ax in American English; American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for thousands of years to shape, split, a ...
s and mullers / hammers and grinding slab
250px, Stone slab in east-central California used to grind acorns
In archaeology, a grinding slab is a ground stone artifact generally used to grind plant materials into usable size, though some slabs were used to shape other ground stone artifac ...
s / anvils. Mullers can be round or elongated[
Stone ]arrowhead
An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, or sometimes for special purposes such as signaling.
...
s appear by Phase I in Amami and II in Okinawa, probably as an influence of the Japanese Jōmon Culture. They are very rare during the whole length of the period (one or two examples per site, when they are present).[
]Chisel
A chisel is a hand tool with a characteristic Wedge, wedge-shaped cutting edge on the end of its blade. A chisel is useful for carving or cutting a hard material such as woodworking, wood, lapidary, stone, or metalworking, metal.
Using a chi ...
-shaped tools appear by Phase III, as well as thin blades and circular pedestal-like objects.[
Recycling is common and it is not rare to repurpose a broken stone axe as a muller or hammer.][
]
Bone artefacts
Until Phase II, pendants are mainly made from boar bones, which is a common point with Jōmon Japan, even though the shapes differ. Starting with Phase II, pendants and large drill
A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a drill bit for making holes, or a screwdriver bit for securing fasteners. Historically, they were powered by hand, and later mains power, but cordless b ...
s can be made of boar, whale
Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...
or dugong
The dugong (; ''Dugong dugon'') is a marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest ...
bones.[
Needles, smaller drills and smaller artefacts appear by Phase III, probably linked to the refinement in the lithic tools. This is during Phase III too that the number and variety of ornaments greatly increase: beads, pendants, hair ornaments, bracelets... Most of the personal ornaments of the Shellmidden Period are made of bone or shell.][
Butterfly-shaped bone artefacts and beast-shaped bone artefacts, some of the most emblematic artefacts of the Shellmidden Period, appear in Phase IV. The butterfly-shaped ones seem to originate from butterfly-shaped stone artefacts of Phase III, while the beast-shaped ones are said to find their origin in stone magatama beads. They can be made a of single piece of bone or by combining several. It seems the simple ones are older than the complex ones, and that the size as well increases with time. The bones used vary between wild boar, fish, whale and dugong, although dugong greatly dominates.]
Starting with Phase III, shark teeth
Sharks continually shed their teeth; some Carcharhiniformes shed approximately 35,000 teeth in a lifetime, replacing those that fall out. There are four basic types of shark teeth: dense flattened, needle-like, pointed lower with triangular up ...
pendants, another very characteristic ornament of the Shellmidden Culture, appear in the assemblage. They can be made from fossil shark teeth (from the Shimajiri Stratum, found in the southern and central parts of the island) or fresh ones. From Phase IV, there are ornaments made from shell, bone or stone that imitate the shape of the shark teeth.[
]
Shell artefacts
Shell artefacts are very common as soon as the beginning of the Early Shellmidden Period. They are a very important component of the assemblage.[
During Phase I, shell implements that seem to be imitations of stone projectile points have been found in very old sites such as Yabuchi Cave or Bugeidō Cave. Those artefacts are not produced after Phase I.][
Spoons and scrappers made from green turban shells or their opercula are very common. A great variety of shells are used to make beads and pendants, as well as shell bracelets, that are an emblematic item of the Shellmidden Culture.][
Starting with Phase III, the artefacts become smaller, more refined and more polished. The shell beads in particular reach very small sizes. There is also a diversification of the type of shells used, probably due to the development of the coral reefs. Artefacts that have been interpreted as fishnet sinkers, mostly made of pierced bivalve, appear during this phase as well, hinting at the development of new fishing techniques. Containers characteristic of the Shellmidden Culture, probably for boiling water, and named shell kettles, made from giant triton shells, also appear in Phase III.][
]
Trade
Exchanges inside the Shellmidden Culture sphere are particularly well illustrated by the diffusion of common ceramic types through the whole area. There also seem to have been times when pottery was produced in a unique area and then distributed in the whole cultural sphere.
Very large quantities of unprocessed allogenous tool stones are retrieved from the sites, coming from various locations, sometimes from different islands as soon as the Early Shellmidden Period Phase I.[
]Chert
Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a prec ...
comes from the Motobu Peninsula
The is a peninsula in the Yanbaru region of Okinawa Island. It is surrounded by Nago Bay to the east, the Haneda Inland Sea to the north, and the East China Sea to the west.Okinawa Island Guide " Nago City / Motobu Town / Nakijin VillageOkinawa ...
and is found in sites all over Okinawa Island as soon as the Early Shellmidden Period Phase II.[ ]Andesite
Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...
comes from Kume Island
is an island, part of the Okinawa Islands and administratively part of the town of Kumejima, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It has an area of . The island had a population of 8,713 (2010).
Kume Island is a volcanic island. Its principal economic a ...
. Green phyllite
Phyllite ( ) is a type of foliation (geology), foliated metamorphic rock formed from slate that is further metamorphosed so that very fine grained white mica achieves a preferred orientation.Stephen Marshak ''Essentials of Geology'', 3rd ed. I ...
and schist
Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...
, used for the stone axes, and the coarse grain sandstone
Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
used for mullers / hammers and grinding slabs / anvils, are easily found in the northern part of Okinawa Island and the Kerama Islands
The are a subtropical island group southwest of Okinawa Island in Japan.
Geography
Four islands are inhabited: Tokashiki Island, Zamami Island, Aka Island, and Geruma Island. The islands are administered as Tokashiki Village and Zamami Vi ...
. Dolerite
Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro,
is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grain ...
, used for axes as well, is very rare on the main Okinawa Island, and must have been imported from the neighbouring Kerama Islands, or even from Tokunoshima
, also known in English as is an island in the Amami archipelago of the southern Satsunan Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan.
The island, in area, has a population of approximately 27,000. The island is divided into three administrative t ...
or Amami Island.[
Archaeological sites have also yielded sherds from pottery imported from Jōmon Japan, showing that relations outside of the cultural sphere existed even at this early stage.][
Sobata type pottery, produced in Kyūshū Island, is found in sites from Phase III and locally produced Sobata type pottery also exists in Okinawa (Ufudōbaru, Toguchi-agaribaru, Irei-baru).][
Ichiki type pottery, produced in southern Kyūshū Island, is often found in sites of the beginning of the Early Shellmidden Period Phase IV in Amami and Okinawa.][
]Obsidian
Obsidian ( ) is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Produced from felsic lava, obsidian is rich in the lighter element ...
tools, mainly made of high-quality material from Koshi-dake, a mountain in western Kyūshū, are also found in Early Shellmidden Period sites in Amami and Okinawa starting in Phase IV. Obsidian is mainly used for projectile points.[ ]Jade
Jade is an umbrella term for two different types of decorative rocks used for jewelry or Ornament (art), ornaments. Jade is often referred to by either of two different silicate mineral names: nephrite (a silicate of calcium and magnesium in t ...
from Japan is found on sites of this period as well.
Funerary practices
There are very few tombs found for the first phases of the Early Shellmidden Period. A recent discovery in Sakitari Cave has been attributed to the Early Shellmidden Period Phase I. It is probably a simple earth pit burial. Discoveries are more common starting with Phase IV. They show a great variety in funerary practices, with human remains discovered in rock shelter
A rock shelter (also rockhouse, crepuscular cave, bluff shelter, or abri) is a shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff. In contrast to solutional caves (karst), which are often many miles long or wide, rock shelters are alm ...
s, in primary or secondary burial
The secondary burial (German: ''Nachbestattung'' or ''Sekundärbestattung''), or “double funeral”Duday, Henri, et al. ''The Archaeology of the Dead: Lectures in Archaeothanatology''. United Kingdom, Oxbow Books, 2009. (not to be confused with ...
s. Sometimes the bones have been burnt. The habit of depositing giant clam
''Tridacna gigas'', the giant clam, is the best-known species of the giant clam genus ''Tridacna''. Giant clams are the largest living bivalve molluscs. Several other species of "giant clam" in the genus ''Tridacna'' are often misidentified as ...
s with the body, that perdures throughout the whole length of the Shellmidden Period, is first documented from sites of Phase IV.[
]
Late Shellmidden Period
The Late Shellmidden Period starts by 300 BCE and lasts until the adoption of agriculture in the Gusuku Period, by the 11th or 12th century. Its main characteristic is the development of trade, first with the Japanese Islands and then with China. This important trade is called the "Shell Road Trade".
Livelihood
There is not fundamental change in the livelihood during the Late Shellmidden Period, whether in Phase I or II. Subsistence is still based on the collect of acorns and the main protein source is still the marine resources.[
Shellfishes are still an important component of the diet. They are acquired in the areas around the coral reefs. This is also the area from which the fishes found in archaeological context come from. In the Okinawa Islands, ]parrotfish
Parrotfish (named for their mouths, which resemble a parrot's beak) are a clade of fish placed in the tribe Scarini of the wrasse family (Labridae). Traditionally treated as their own family (Scaridae), genetic studies have found them to be dee ...
es are the main species consumed, while in the Amami Islands, the species are more varied. This could be due to differences in the development of the coral reefs in the two areas, or in differences in fishing techniques. Terrestrial mammals such as wild boars are also occasionally hunted.
Settlements
During the Late Shellmidden Period Phase I, the settlements once again come closer to the coast at the top of the sand dunes.[ It is not clear if this shift is linked to the establishment of the Shell Trade, a change in the diet, the necessity to be closer to the reefs to claim ownership...][
Pit-dwellings continue to exist but the habitations gradually shift to pillared buildings above the ground that become the most common type of dwellings in the Late Shellmidden Period Phase II. The pillared buildings are rectangular and are disclosed in excavations by alignments of ]postholes
This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains.
A
B
C
D
E
F
...
. At first the alignments of postholes and the building shapes are irregular. The pillars only start to be regularly spaced by the 8th century CE.[
]
Material Culture
Pottery
= Phase I
=
Pottery becomes coarser, less adorned and the variety of types decreases, despite the long time-span of the period. It is nevertheless clearly technologically and stylistically derived from the pottery of the Early Shellmidden Period. During Phase I, the characteristic pottery types are unadorned pots with pointy bases in Okinawa and pots with incised patterns and pedestals in Amami.[
By the very beginning of the period, until about the start of the common era, unadorned pots with pointy bases are also found in the Amami area, but by the beginning of the common era, under the influence of the northern agricultural communities, the pottery undergoes a drastic evolution toward pots with incised patterns and pedestals, that will be characteristic of the ceramic assemblage of Amami for the rest of Phase I. Those types of pottery are often referred to as "Amami-types".][
The pots in the Okinawa Islands being unadorned, typologies are mainly based on differences in proportions and are less detailed than for the previous period. At the end of Phase I, the pots tend to become larger. It is possible that the influence of the last Amami-type is at the origin of the evolution of the pointy bottoms toward constricted flat bottoms, that will be characteristic of the Late Shellmidden Period Phase II.][
]
= Phase II
=
The pottery produced during the Late Shellmidden Period Phase II is called "constricted flat bottom type" (in Japanese くびれ平底土器). This pottery is found both in Amami and Okinawa Islands, but with regional differences.[
The Kaneku type is produced until the end of the 10th century in the northern part of the Amami Island, before it is replaced by Japanese-influenced Hajiki pottery, and until the beginning of the 11th century in the southern part of the Amami Islands (it seems the production even goes on during the Gusuku Period).][
A local version of Hajiki pottery is also produced in Amami as soon as the end of the 9th century, and is said to be the ancestor of the later Gusuku pottery jars.][
In the Okinawa Islands, the Akajanga type is produced between the late 6th and 9th centuries and the Fensa-kasō type between the 9th and the beginning of the 11th century. The decorative patterns of the Fensa-kasō type gradually spread northward as far as Tokunoshima. As for the types in Amami, the Okinawan types continue to be produced during the Gusuku Period as well.][
]
Lithic
On Okinawa Island, green phyllite and schist, that were the main stones used to make stone axes during the Early Shellmidden Period, are practically abandoned in favour of dolerite. Dolerite is harder to obtain, but produces larger axes of better quality.[ At the same period, the number of large stone axes also increases in sites of the Amami Islands, where dolerite is native. In Amami, most sites yield axes whose dolerite come from a single location, suggesting that each community had a monopoly over one dolerite source. Although the Shellmidden Culture populations do not practice ]agriculture
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...
, it is possible that the adoption of those large axes is an influence from the neighbouring agricultural populations[
Stone tools are rare both in the Amami and Okinawa Islands for the Late Shellmidden Period Phase II. Most of them are mullers and grinding slabs, with a few ground stone axes in Okinawa only. This is probably due to the shift toward metallic implements that started during the preceding phase.][
]
Shell Artefacts
The use of shell ornaments persists in the Late Shellmidden Period, but their variety and number drastically decrease compared to the previous stage.[
Although the shell bracelets are mainly known as artefacts from the Okinawa Islands found in the Japanese Islands, they are frequently found in Okinawa as well, in sites of the Late Shellmidden Period Phase I. They do not seem to be present in the assemblage after the shell trade with Japan collapses.][
The most common and most studied shell artefacts for the Late Shellmidden Period Phase II are the Hirota-josō type shell amulets (kaifu) and the green turban shell artefacts.][
The shell amulets are found in the Amami and Okinawa Islands from the 6th to the 9th centuries.][
Perforated artefacts and shell spoons made of great turban shell are found in larger quantity in the Amami Islands during the Late Shellmidden Period Phase II. Large quantities of shells have also been unearthed from several sites of this period on Amami-Ōshima, probably used for trade with Japan.][
]
Metal
There are very little metallic artefacts unearthed from the Late Shellmidden Period in the Okinawa Islands. In the Amami Islands, during the Late Shellmidden Period Phase II, they mainly include fishing implements (fish hooks and blades interpreted as tools to detach shells from rocks). Blades of the end of the period are of a particular shape characteristic to the Okinawa and Amami Island, that will perdure during the Gusuku Period.[
Local production of metallic implements started in the Amami Islands as soon as the Late Shellmidden Period Phase II, in the late 9th century. ]Tuyere
A tuyere or tuyère (; ) is a tube, nozzle or pipe allowing the blowing of air into a furnace or hearth.W. K. V. Gale, The iron and Steel industry: a dictionary of terms (David and Charles, Newton Abbot 1972), 216–217.
Air or oxygen is i ...
s have been found on sites from this period. It is thought that the techniques acquired in Amami at that time later spread southward to the Okinawa Islands in the Gusuku Period.[
]
Trade
Although exchanges with the northern Japanese islands existed in the Early Shellmidden Period, they developed to become a real large-scale trade in the Late Shellmidden Period. As suggested by the name of "Shell Road Trade", the main product sought by the agricultural populations of Japan were the large tropical shells that can be found in the coral reefs of the Okinawa Islands. They exchanged them for pottery (possibly containing food), iron tools (axes, projectile points), bronze mirrors, glass beads, stone tools or coins. As much as 37 sites of this period (Aharen'ura, Anchi-no-ue...) have yielded hoards of such shells (for a total of 151 hoards) in the Okinawa Islands. Shell bracelets from Ryūkyū have been found in 60 sites in the island of Kyūshū.[
At the beginning of the Late Shellmidden period Phase I, a commercial road was established to send ]conch
Conch ( , , ) is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high Spire (mollusc), spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point on both ...
s and cone shells to Northern Kyūshū, where they were processed into bracelets and other ornaments and sent as far north as the Hokkaidō Island. Traces of shell bracelet processing have been found at the Takahashi site (Minamisatsuma City) on the Satsuma Peninsula
The Satsuma Peninsula (薩摩半島 ''Satsuma-hantō'') is a peninsula which projects south from the southwest part of Kyūshū Island, Japan. To the west lies the East China Sea, while to the east it faces the Ōsumi Peninsula across Kagoshima ...
. Shell bracelets lost their popularity in Japan after a few centuries (by 100-300 CE) with the introduction of copper bracelets. Consequently, the quantity of Japanese pottery found in Amami and Okinawa Islands after this period drastically decreases. However, the quantity of Okinawan pottery found in Amami and Amami pottery found in Okinawa increases, showing a shift in the commercial relations. It is by this period as well that foreign pottery with talc
Talc, or talcum, is a clay mineral composed of hydrated magnesium silicate, with the chemical formula . Talc in powdered form, often combined with corn starch, is used as baby powder. This mineral is used as a thickening agent and lubricant ...
tempering appears in Okinawa. It is not clear if this type of pottery is from (or strongly influenced by) the Korean peninsula
Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically divided at or near the 38th parallel between North Korea (Dem ...
or mainland China
"Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...
.[
The development of commerce probably engendered changes in the Shellmidden society, with the frequent landing of brokers who came to buy shells, and people probably specializing in shell fishing, processing and transport. However, clues of a stratification of the society are mainly seen in the northern islands of the Ryūkyū Archipelago, such as Tokunoshima, during the following Phase II.
Although the popularity of the shell bracelets among the Japanese populations decreased in the latter half of the Japanese ]Yayoi Period
The Yayoi period (弥生時代, ''Yayoi jidai'') (c. 300 BC – 300 AD) is one of the major historical periods of the Japanese archipelago. It is generally defined as the era between the beginning of food production in Japan and the emergence o ...
, with the spread of the Kofun Culture, Okinawan shells became once again popular. They fell out of fashion again by the Late Kofun Period, when the trend for bracelets shifted to bronze and stone.[
Although conchs and cone shells were still exported to make bracelets and ornaments for the horses, between the second half of the Late Shellmidden Period and its final stage, the trade turned mainly on green turban shells. Green turbans were used to product shell spoons and sake cups for the trade with Japan (Yamato), and ]mother-of-pearl
Nacre ( , ), also known as mother-of-pearl, is an organicinorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer. It is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent.
Nacre is ...
inlay for the trade with both Yamato and China. Green turbans have been excavated in large quantities from sites of the 6th to 8th centuries CE in Amami Island such as Domori Matsunoto, Yōmisaki or Kominato Fuwaganeku. In the Okinawa Islands, green turbans have also been excavated in large quantities on Kume Island.[ The sites from which large quantities of green turbans have been found are currently unevenly distributed, with a concentration in the northern part of Amami Island and on Kume Island, and the remainder scattered around the northern tip of Okinawa Island, Ie Island and Yonaguni Island.][ Many Chinese ]Kaiyuan Tongbao
The Kaiyuan Tongbao (), sometimes romanised as ''Kai Yuan Tong Bao'' or using the archaic Wade-Giles spelling ''K'ai Yuan T'ung Pao'', was a Tang dynasty cash coin that was produced from 621 under the reign of Emperor Gaozu and remained in pr ...
cash coins were excavated from sites of the same period on Kume Island, and there are various theories about the Southern Islands Trade Routes of this period.[
By this period, Japanese historical documents such as the ]Nihon Shoki
The or , sometimes translated as ''The Chronicles of Japan'', is the second-oldest book of classical Japanese history. It is more elaborate and detailed than the , the oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeol ...
or the Shoku Nihongi
The is an imperially-commissioned Japanese history text. Completed in 797, it is the second of the '' Six National Histories'', coming directly after the and followed by ''Nihon Kōki''. Fujiwara no Tsugutada and Sugano no Mamichi served as t ...
record exchanges between the Yamato Court and the islands of the Ryūkyū archipelago.[ In 616, ]Empress Suiko
(554 – 15 April 628) was the 33rd monarch of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō''):
She introduced Buddhism in Japan and built many Buddhist temples, but she held the balance between Buddhism and Shintoism. Under her rule, Japan ...
receives a delegation from Yaku (Yakushima
is one of the Ōsumi Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, in area, has a population of 13,178. It is accessible by hydrofoil ferry, car ferry, or by air to Yakushima Airport.
Administratively, the island consists of the town ...
), in 677 there is the record of the visit of people from Tanegashima
is one of the Ōsumi Islands belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, in area, is the second largest of the Ōsumi Islands, and has a population of 33,000 people. Access to the island is by ferry, or by air to New Tanegashima Airp ...
in Asuka-dera
, also known as , is a Buddhist temple located in the village of Asuka, Nara Prefecture, Japan. It currently belongs to the Shingon-shū Buzan-ha sect. Asuka-dera is regarded as one of the oldest temples in Japan. Its precincts were designat ...
. In 699 the Yamato Court received visitors from 'Tane, Yaku, Amami and Tokan' (Tanegashima, Yakushima, Amami and Tokunoshima) and in 715 from 'Amami, Yaku, Tokan, Shinkaku and Kumi' (Amami, Yakushima, Tokunoshima, Ishigaki and Kume). In 753, Jianzhen
Jianzhen (688–763), also known by his Japanese name Ganjin (,), was a Tang Chinese monk who helped to propagate Buddhism in Japan. In the eleven years from 743 to 754, Jianzhen attempted to visit Japan some six times, arriving in the year ...
is said to have arrived at 'Akinaha Island' on his way to Japan, which is said to be the main island of Okinawa. After this, the Okinawan place names disappear from the Japanese records for a time.
Final Stage and transition to the Gusuku Period
Settlements
In the final stages of the Late Shellmidden Period, by the 10th-11th centuries, settlements present patterns where each above-ground pillared habitation is coupled with another building interpreted as a raised floor granary (Kushikanekubaru Site in Chatan, Fukidashibaru Site in Yomitan...). In the following Gusuku Period, there will be a tendency to divide the villages between a residential area with the habitations and a storage area with the granaries.[
Many sites of this period present very large concentrations of postholes from which it is very difficult to find any building plan (for instance Ireibaru D Site in Chatan).][
]
Trade
By the final stage of the Late Shellmidden Period (10th century), the Chinese Northern Song dynasty
The Song dynasty ( ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, endin ...
, established in 960, took measures to promote trade with neighbouring countries. Trade between the Song, Japan, Goryeo
Goryeo (; ) was a Korean state founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korea, Korean Peninsula until the establishment of Joseon in 1392. Goryeo achieved what has b ...
and the Ryūkyū Islands flourished from this time onwards.[
The site of Gusuku in ]Kikai Island
is one of the Satsunan Islands, classed with the Amami archipelago between Kyūshū and Okinawa.
The island, in area, has a population of approximately 7,657 people. Administratively the island forms the town of Kikai, Kagoshima Prefecture. ...
seems to become a nodal point in the commercial relations between the Ryūkyū Islands and Japan. It yielded Kyūshū-style Hajiki earthenware, Sue ware
was a blue-gray form of stoneware pottery fired at high temperature, which was produced in Japan and southern Korea during the Kofun, Nara, and Heian periods of Japanese history. It was initially used for funerary and ritual objects, and orig ...
, Yue ware celadon, white porcelain and ash-glazed stoneware bowls from the 9th to 11th centuries. This may have brought societal changes to Kikai Island and its society, marking the end of the Shellmidden Period in the Okinawa Islands and the transition to the Gusuku Period.[
]
Transition to the Gusuku Period
The Gusuku Period is marked by the spread of agriculture and a remarkable increase in the population. Emblematic artefacts of the Gusuku Period include Chinese celadon and porcelain
Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...
, Kamuiyaki ware from Tokunoshima Island and stone pots from Nagasaki
, officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...
(Kyūshū Island). This assemblage is found as a set in the Amami, Okinawa and Sakishima Islands.[
The Gusuku Site, on Kikai Island, seem to have been fundamental for the development of the Gusuku Culture. It seems that the culture started in the northern part of the Ryūkyū Archipelago and spread southward, before it bloomed on Okinawa Island by the 12th century. Ceramic studies show that the Gusuku Culture was adopted quite quickly in some islands, and quite slowly in some others, maybe due to differences in areas with immigration-led adoption and areas with local diffusion.][
]
References
{{reflist
Ryukyuan history
Prehistory of the Ryūkyū Islands
Prehistoric Asia