Processing Technologies and Production of Food in the Jomon Period

Abstract

During the Jomon period, which lasted about 13,000 years, a variety of food processing techniques were developed. First of all, there is pottery itself, which was the most basic tool for processing food in the Jomon. Early pottery is thought to have been used for cooking and processing fish, but the number of pottery sherds excavated in the Incipient Jomon is quite limited. The number of pottery shapes increased later on, suggesting that pottery was used for various purposes and times during the Jomon period. As for food processing facilities, we can point to a series of earthen pits in the Kyushu region which are thought to have been smoking facilities, and shell mounds as food processing sites that were typically developed in eastern Japan. Each technology had its diversity depending on the period and region. Although not food itself, salt production using salt-making pottery began in the Late Jomon period. From the Late Jomon period onward, the number of water reservoirs associated with wooden structures used for processing nuts, such as horse chestnuts and walnuts, increased in eastern Japan. Although acorn and nuts had been used since the Early Jomon period, the use of lowland storage pits in the western part of Japan suggests that the use and processing of acorn and nuts changed after the Late Jomon period. 要旨13,000年ほど継続した縄文時代において、さまざまな食料加工技術が開発された。まずは、土器そのものであり、食料を加工する最も基本的な道具となっている。初期の土器は魚類の調理・加工に用いられたことが明らかにされているが、土器出土数はかなり限定されている。その後、土器器種が増加しており、縄文時代の各時期における土器の用途は多様であったと考えられる。食料加工施設としては、燻製施設と考えられる九州地方の連穴土坑、東日本に顕著に発達した食料加工場としての貝塚などが挙げられる。それぞれの技術は、時期・地域によって多様性を有している。食料そのものではないが、縄文時代後期には製塩土器を用いた製塩も開始されている。縄文時代後期以降は、東日本で堅果類処理用の水場遺構・木組み遺構が増加する。堅果類は縄文時代の早い時期から利用されていたものの、西日本でも低湿地貯蔵穴が利用されるなど、縄文時代後期以降において利用・処理の方法に大幅な変化が生じたと考えられる