Exploring Prehistoric Pottery in Japan
A Study of Organic Inclusions, Adhering Materials, and Impressions of Woven Items
Edited by Hiroki Obata
Paperback (Published)
(October 2026)
ISBN: 9781805833444
7.99 x 10.91 inches
Price: $42.00
In stock
This volume explores how scientific analysis of Jōmon and Yayoi pottery reveals evidence of prehistoric life. Examining plant remains, tool impressions, food residues and carbonised traces, it demonstrates how “excavating inside the pottery” can reconstruct ancient lifeways, technologies and environments.
Jōmon pottery is globally renowned for its lavish ornamentation and functional beauty. Beyond its aesthetic value, this pottery serves as a crucial archaeological archive, preserving microscopic traces of prehistoric life. Recent interdisciplinary research reveals that cultivated plants, household pests, and plant-based tempering agents left distinct imprints and voids within the clay fabric. Furthermore, impressions of woven mats and fishing nets provide direct evidence of the tools and materials used in vessel construction. Organic substances and carbonised residues absorbed by the pottery during usage enable the identification of ancient foodstuffs and medicinal plants, while also providing materials for precise radiocarbon dating, alongside carbonised inclusions. Collaboratively termed ‘excavating inside the pottery’, this scientific approach reconstructs past lifeways through artefactual analysis. This volume presents the theoretical framework of this methodology, along with illustrative, empirical case studies from Jōmon and Yayoi pottery.
List of Figures and Tables
Acknowledgments
Preface – Hiroki Obata
Chapter 1: Prehistoric Pottery in Japan
Prehistoric pottery in the Japanese archipelago and its dating: The beginning of pottery and paddy-rice farming – Ken’ichi Kobayashi
Pottery and the spread of agriculture in Japan – Dai Kunikita
The emergence of cultivated plants in Japan: Seed impressions and carbonised seeds – Kei Ōta, Tatsuya Kokubo, Takashi Sano, Asako Yanagihara, Aya Manabe, Hiroki Obata
Chapter 2: Vegetal Temper and Pottery
Vegetal-tempered pottery in the Jōmon Period – Eastern Japan – Akinori Abe
Vegetal-tempered Pottery in the Jōmon Period -Western Japan – Kazutomo Mizunoe
Vegetal-tempered pottery of the world – Yastami Nishida
Plant temper identification methods – Yastami Nishida
Examination of vegetal temper through phytolith analysis – Tetsuro Udatsu
Identification of plant materials tempered in Jōmon pottery – Yastami Nishida, Mitsuo Suzuki, Kazutaka Kobayashi, Akinori Abe
Chapter 3: Macrobotanical Remains on and Inside Pottery Fabrics and Their Uses
Identification of woven baskets, mats and cords – Yuka Sasaki, Shuichi Noshiro, Kazutaka Kobayashi
Woven items as pottery impressions – Aya Manabe
Identification of materials adhering to pottery surfaces – Yuka Sasaki
Fishing nets in Jōmon Pottery – Hiroki Obata
Chapter 4: Various Impressions Found on Pottery
Detected seed impressions on pottery and their significance – Hiroki Obata
Various insect impressions – Hiroyuki Yoshitomi
‘Hidden’ shell middens and discoveries from shell impressions on pottery – Taiji Kurozumi
Proposal for ‘a pottery-impression house pestology’: Reconstructing prehistoric life and food from insect impressions – Hiroki Obata
Chapter 5: A Comprehensive Analytical Approach to Prehistoric Pottery
Artificial intelligence and pottery studies: Advancing classification approaches – Israel Mendonça
Pottery studies and comprehensive analytical approach – Hiroki Obata
Conclusion – Hiroki Obata, Ken’ichi Kobayashi, Dai Kunikita, Yuka Sasaki, Yoshiki Miyata, Akinori Abe, Yastami Nishida
Hiroki Obata is an archaeologist specialising in archaeobotanical and archaeoentomological analysis based on organic inclusions found in Jōmon and Yayoi pottery. His research focuses on the history of plant cultivation and insect pests. He has achieved numerous breakthroughs – such as the discovery of cultivated soybeans from the Jōmon period and the oldest maize weevil in China – by adopting innovative research methods, including X-ray analysis of impressions on pottery. Since retiring from Kumamoto University, he has continued his ambitious research and remains a leading authority on pottery impressions in Japan and East Asia.
- Edited by Hiroki Obata
Similar Books
Archaeological Excavations at Irmis Rka: An Investigation of a Multi-Layered Settlement in Southwest Georgia
Results from the 2020 Season: Early Bronze Age to Medieval Occupations
Catuvellaunia and Rome: Economic and Political Relations during the Final Decades Pre-conquest
The Role of Grain from Southeastern Britain and Its Potential for Maintenance of the Roman Military along the Frontier on the Rhine
Colour Concept “Secoli bui” a colori
Codici cromatici e architetture dipinte nell’età tardoantica e medievale
Crossing Disciplines in the Study of Archaeology and Prehistoric Art: Insights from the Sahara and Mediterranean Africa
Proceedings of the XX UISPP World Congress (5–9 September 2023, Timișoara, Romania) Volume / Session 18
Crossing Sacred Landscapes
Contacts and Continuities in the Desert Cults and Beliefs of Ancient Northern Arabia and the Arid Southern Levant
Cuneiform Artefacts from Archaeological Contexts: New Research on Ancient Iraq
Proceedings of a Conference Held at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, July 4–5, 2024
Volume 2
ENTANGLED AFRICA
Intra-African Relations Between Rain Forest and Mediterranean from Around 4,000 BCE to 1,500 CE
From Coast to Coast
Current Archaeological Research on Cultural Exchange along and across the Baltic Sea
Volume 19
Frontiers of the Roman Empire: The Frontier of the Roman Province of Raetia
Grenzen des Römischen Reiches: Die Grenze der Römischen Provinz Raetien
Gold, Silver and Glass: Power Networks, Cultural Identities, Technology Transfers and Agency across the Old World (7th Century BC – 1st Century AD)
Proceedings of a Conference Held at the British Museum, 16–18 June 2023
Harvesting the Margins of the Viking World
Decentralizing Economies in Late Iron Age Fennoscandia
Volume 6
Images of Anonymous Women
A Semiotic Approach to Image-Text Relations in Interpretation of Ancient Near Eastern Art and the Hebrew Bible
Volume 310
Journal of Urban Archaeology 13 (2026)
Featuring a special section, ‘Lost Towns and Cities: Rediscovering Urban Sites through Archival and Legacy Data’
Making and Meaning in the Bronze and Iron Ages
Chronology, Landscapes and Societies across Europe. Proceedings from the METALAGES2024 Colloquium (Florence, 23 October 2024)
Medieval Yeghegis, Armenia
History, Archaeology, Society. Local Multiplicities and Global Connections of a Rural Centre on the Silk Road(s)
Mobility and Archaeogenetics in Central Asia
People – Goods – Ideas. 3rd International Conference on Central Asian Archaeology in Bern, 11th–13th January 2024
Volume 24
Offa’s Dyke Journal: Volume 7 for 2025
A Journal for Linear Monuments, Frontiers and Borderlands Research
Prehistoric, Ancient and Medieval Medicine
New Perspectives and Challenges for the Twenty-First Century