The impact of environmental change on the use of early pottery by East Asian hunter-gatherers

TY - JOUR

T1 - The impact of environmental change on the use of early pottery by East Asian hunter-gatherers

AU - Lucquin, Alexandre Jules Andre

AU - Robson, Harry Kenneth

AU - Eley, Yvette

AU - Shoda, Shinya

AU - Veltcheva, Dessislava

AU - Gibbs, Kevin

AU - Heron, Carl P.

AU - Isaksson, Sven

AU - Nishida, Yastami

AU - Taniguchi, Yasuhiro

AU - Nakajima, Shota

AU - Kobayashi, Kenichi

AU - Jordan, Peter D.

AU - Kaner, Simon

AU - Craig, Oliver Edward

N1 - This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded with permission of the publisher/copyright holder. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details

PY - 2018/7/31

Y1 - 2018/7/31

N2 - The invention of pottery was a fundamental technological advancement with far-reaching economic and cultural consequences. Pottery containers first emerged in East Asia during the Late Pleistocene in a wide range of environmental settings, but became particularly prominent and much more widely dispersed after climatic warming at the start of the Holocene. Some archaeologists argue that this increasing usage was driven by environmental factors, as warmer climates would have generated a wider range of terrestrial plant and animal resources that required processing in pottery. However, this hypothesis has never been directly tested. Here, in one of the largest studies of its kind, we conducted organic residue analysis of >800 pottery vessels selected from 46 Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene sites located across the Japanese archipelago to identify their contents. Our results demonstrate that pottery had a strong association with the processing of aquatic resources, irrespective of the ecological setting. Contrary to expectations, this association remained stable even after the onset of Holocene warming, including in more southerly areas, where expanding forests provided new opportunities for hunting and gathering. Nevertheless, the results indicate that a broader array of aquatic resources was processed in pottery after the start of the Holocene. We suggest this marks a significant change in the role of pottery of hunter-gatherers, corresponding to an increased volume of production, greater variation in forms and sizes, the rise of intensified fishing, the onset of shellfish exploitation, and reduced residential mobility.

AB - The invention of pottery was a fundamental technological advancement with far-reaching economic and cultural consequences. Pottery containers first emerged in East Asia during the Late Pleistocene in a wide range of environmental settings, but became particularly prominent and much more widely dispersed after climatic warming at the start of the Holocene. Some archaeologists argue that this increasing usage was driven by environmental factors, as warmer climates would have generated a wider range of terrestrial plant and animal resources that required processing in pottery. However, this hypothesis has never been directly tested. Here, in one of the largest studies of its kind, we conducted organic residue analysis of >800 pottery vessels selected from 46 Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene sites located across the Japanese archipelago to identify their contents. Our results demonstrate that pottery had a strong association with the processing of aquatic resources, irrespective of the ecological setting. Contrary to expectations, this association remained stable even after the onset of Holocene warming, including in more southerly areas, where expanding forests provided new opportunities for hunting and gathering. Nevertheless, the results indicate that a broader array of aquatic resources was processed in pottery after the start of the Holocene. We suggest this marks a significant change in the role of pottery of hunter-gatherers, corresponding to an increased volume of production, greater variation in forms and sizes, the rise of intensified fishing, the onset of shellfish exploitation, and reduced residential mobility.

KW - archaeology

KW - early pottery

KW - Organic residue analysis

KW - stable isotopes

KW - Jomon

KW - Archaeology

KW - Jōmon

KW - Stable isotopes

KW - Early pottery

KW - History, Ancient

KW - Humans

KW - Climate Change/history

KW - Far East

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85051719150&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1803782115

DO - 10.1073/pnas.1803782115

M3 - Article

C2 - 30012598

SN - 0027-8424

VL - 115

SP - 7931

EP - 7936

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

IS - 31

ER -