Spatial and temporal models of Jomon settlement
The Jomon culture is a tradition of complex hunter-gatherers which rose in the Japanese archipelago at the end of the Pleistocene (ca. 13,000 cal BP) and lasted until the 3rd millennium cal BP. Recent studies increasingly suggest how this long cultural persistence was characterised by repeated episodes of change in settlement pattern, primarily manifested as cyclical transitions between nucleated and dispersed distributions. Although it has been suggested that these events correlate with population dynamics, shifts in subsistence strategies, and environmental change, to date there have been very few attempts to provide a quantitative analysis of spatio-temporal change in Jomon settlement and its possible causes. This thesis is an attempt to fill that lacuna by adopting a twin-track approach to the problem. First, two case studies from central Japan have been examined using a novel set of methods, which have been specifically designed to handle the intrinsic chronological uncertainty which characterises most prehistoric data. This facilitated the application of a probabilistic framework for quantitatively assessing the available information, making it possible to identify alternating phases of nucleated and
Crema, E. R.
Spatial and temporal models of Jomon settlement. The Jomon culture is a tradition of complex hunter-gatherers which rose in the Japanese archipelago at the end of the Pleistocene (ca. 13,000 cal BP) and lasted until the 3rd millennium cal BP. Recent studies increasingly suggest how this long cultural persistence was characterised by repeated episodes of change in settlement pattern, primarily manifested as cyclical transitions between nucleated and dispersed distributions. Although it has been suggested that these events correlate with population dynamics, shifts in subsistence strategies, and environmental change, to date there have been very few attempts to provide a quantitative analysis of spatio-temporal change in Jomon settlement and its possible causes. This thesis is an attempt to fill that lacuna by adopting a twin-track approach to the problem. First, two case studies from central Japan have been examined using a novel set of methods, which have been specifically designed to handle the intrinsic chronological uncertainty which characterises most prehistoric data. This facilitated the application of a probabilistic framework for quantitatively assessing the available information, making it possible to identify alternating phases of nucleated and
spatial_temporal model settlement culture tradition complex_hunter gatherer rise japanese archipelago end pleistocene cal last cal recent_study increasingly suggest long cultural persistence characterise repeated episode change settlement_pattern primarily manifest cyclical transition distribution although suggested event correlate population_dynamic shift subsistence_strategy environmental_change date attempt_provide quantitative_analysis spatio_temporal change settlement possible cause attempt_fill lacuna adopt twin track problem first_two case_study central japan examine use novel set method specifically_design handle intrinsic chronological uncertainty characterises prehistoric data facilitate application probabilistic framework quantitatively assess available information make_possible identify alternate phase