The role of conflict during the adoption of agriculture in the Southwestern Japanese Archipelago: late-final Jōmon and Yayoi Period traumatic lesions

Thesis

In the global literature on violence and warfare, the Jōmon period of the prehistoric Japanese archipelago is renowned as an example of a complex hunter-gatherer culture with little evidence of violent conflict through its duration, whereas the subsequent agricultural Yayoi period is marked by numerous indicators of violence, including formalised weaponry and fortified villages. How violence was prevented or utilised during large-scale cultural and technological transitions in prehistory is an ongoing area of research, but it is clear that they cannot simply be explained by external pressures, rather the cultural context in which conflict management strategies are played-out is also a large deciding factor in whether or not disputes result in violence.

In order to look at these dynamics with great resolution, this thesis aimed to systematically analyse the arguably most direct evidence for violence – traumatic skeletal lesion – from 29 sites dating to the Late–Final Jōmon (ca. 2540 – 435 BC) through the Yayoi (ca. 900 BC – 250 AD) periods, where agriculture first appeared in the Japanese archipelago. In total 250 Jōmon skulls and 174 Yayoi skeletons were examined for evidence of traumatic lesions likely related to violence. In order to facilitate the data analysis, a method of examining skeletal data in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) using an existing 3D model of the human skeleton was developed. The author modified a freely available 3D model of the skeleton (BodyParts3D licenced through Creative Commons) to be compatible with this thesis’ completeness recording methods. 3D features were then added to the model to represent instances of trauma. This novel method allowed for the creation of distinct analytical units which could be easily queried, compiled, and compared at the individual and group levels rather than simply representing completeness and trauma data in ad hoc diagrams or through singular 3D visualisations.

The results demonstrate that, although it has been underestimated, the overall rates of violent trauma during the Jōmon are low, but that there are as of yet unexplored patterns in the occurrence of antemortem and perimortem trauma among the males and females of the period. The transition to the Yayoi is marked by an increase in healed trauma among the sites dating to the beginnings of the period. Perimortem trauma and trauma related to weaponry increase from the Early–Middle Yayoi period, but indicators of healed intragroup trauma persist. The implications of these findings are critically evaluated in relation to previous studies in the region and to patterns of violence from two case studies from European prehistory – the Mesolithic-–Neolithic transition and the Bronze Age.

Authors: White, JA

• Alternative title: 縄文時代から弥生時代における外傷性の損傷についての研究
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-zr4v0o6ne
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: trauma; Jomon; Neolithic; agriculture; Geographical Information Systems (GIS); violence; Yayoi; statistical analysis; Kofun; Bronze Age; warriorhood; spatial analysis; hunter-gatherers; 3D; warfare; Mesolithic; Japan
• Subjects: Prehistoric archaeology; Palaeopathology; Bioarchaeology; Biological Anthropology; Japanese archaeology; Archaeology