image: Simulation of Japanese hunter-gatherer cooking. view more
Credit: PNAS
A study explores pottery use and adoption by hunter-gatherers in Japan. The production and use of pottery in East Asia expanded dramatically at the beginning of the Holocene epoch, approximately 11,500 years ago. This change coincides with climate warming, and researchers have suggested that the resulting environmental changes may have driven increased pottery production. Alexandre Lucquin and colleagues analyzed organic residues from more than 800 Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene pottery samples from 46 ecologically diverse sites throughout Japan. Nearly half of the vessels contained a combination of fatty acids characteristic of aquatic food sources. The share of pottery associated with aquatic foods was largely independent of environmental setting and did not change significantly between the Late Pleistocene and the Early Holocene, suggesting that pottery use did not fundamentally change with Holocene climate warming. However, residues from Early Holocene pottery contained a broader range of carbon and nitrogen isotope compositions compared with Late Pleistocene pottery, suggesting that Early Holocene pottery was used for a broader range of aquatic resources than Late Pleistocene pottery. According to the authors, the results suggest that environmental changes at the beginning of the Holocene may have facilitated increased inshore fishing, shellfish gathering, and reduced mobility, prompting increased pottery usage.
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Article #18-03782: "The impact of environmental change on the use of early pottery by East Asian hunter-gatherers," by Alexandre Lucquin et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Alexandre Lucquin, University of York, UNITED KINGDOM; tel: +44-1904328650, +44-7709631889; e-mail: <alexandre.lucquin@york.ac.uk>; Oliver E. Craig, University of York, UNITED KINGDOM; tel: +44-1904328626, +44-7976677513; e-mail: <oliver.craig@york.ac.uk>
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences