Jomon Japan - the future was then?
Here's an idea - the most important formative period in Japanese prehistory was the Jomon era, lasting approximately 10,000 years from 12,000 BP to 2,000 BP.
It can be argued that the acceptance of intensive rice production techniques and a more-obviously hierarchical social system - from around 2,000 years ago - depended on the fact that cultivated plants and sedentary living were already established in Japan well before the Yayoi era that began 2,500 to 2,000 years ago. To sum up: in Jomon Japan, the future was then.
It can also be argued that before the Jomon period (approximately 30,000 to 12,000 years ago), technologies and populations were so little developed that their influences have not persisted very strongly up until the present.
The relatively sudden expansion of human populations throughout the archipelago during the Jomon era may therefore provide a reasonable central focus for a future eco-travel industry centered on archaeology in Japan.
So perhaps the present Jomon Japan website can have a new future not as a site just for fans of Jomon archaeology, but as a place to introduce the archaeology of all periods throughout Japan.
A possible renaming of the site would be:
Jomon Japan: Archaeology and Travel (or "How to Get Here from There")
Taking the argument to extremes, it might be fun to play the role of a Jomon-era villager taking visitors on a journey to see the past, present and future of Japan. But... so little is known about the life of any Jomon-era villager. How can we possibly play the part?
Perhaps the only justification is an educational and playful one: it is fun just to imagine what life was like in the distant past, and how we reached our present life from there. To make all the connections possible, we need to cover the full course of Japanese prehistory, as well as we can. Dish it all up, but delicately, in an appetizing manner.
If we cannot take pleasure in just tickling the imagination, then what hope is there for us now, and in the future?!
It can be argued that the acceptance of intensive rice production techniques and a more-obviously hierarchical social system - from around 2,000 years ago - depended on the fact that cultivated plants and sedentary living were already established in Japan well before the Yayoi era that began 2,500 to 2,000 years ago. To sum up: in Jomon Japan, the future was then.
It can also be argued that before the Jomon period (approximately 30,000 to 12,000 years ago), technologies and populations were so little developed that their influences have not persisted very strongly up until the present.
The relatively sudden expansion of human populations throughout the archipelago during the Jomon era may therefore provide a reasonable central focus for a future eco-travel industry centered on archaeology in Japan.
So perhaps the present Jomon Japan website can have a new future not as a site just for fans of Jomon archaeology, but as a place to introduce the archaeology of all periods throughout Japan.
A possible renaming of the site would be:
Jomon Japan: Archaeology and Travel (or "How to Get Here from There")
Taking the argument to extremes, it might be fun to play the role of a Jomon-era villager taking visitors on a journey to see the past, present and future of Japan. But... so little is known about the life of any Jomon-era villager. How can we possibly play the part?
Perhaps the only justification is an educational and playful one: it is fun just to imagine what life was like in the distant past, and how we reached our present life from there. To make all the connections possible, we need to cover the full course of Japanese prehistory, as well as we can. Dish it all up, but delicately, in an appetizing manner.
If we cannot take pleasure in just tickling the imagination, then what hope is there for us now, and in the future?!
posted by The Research Cooperative at
5:27 AM
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