Long-term marine resource use in Hokkaido, Northern Japan: new insights into sea mammal hunting and fishing

ABSTRACT

Based on examinations of archaeofaunal remains from 153 components from 122 sites in Hokkaido, Northern Japan, this study highlights that northern fur seals were the most important game for sea mammal hunting from the early Early Jomon (7000 calBP) and proposes a hypothesis that offshore hunting technology for hunting adult fur seals was established prior to the late Early Jomon (5800 calBP). This study also reveals that the importance of fishing for subsistence rapidly increased during the very end of the Final Jomon (2600 calBP) and the Early Epi-Jomon (2400 calBP–1800 calBP). Fishing focusing on bastard halibut and swordfish was actively conducted for status-building by Early Epi-Jomon fishers in some areas. Mortuary analyses indicate that ritual leaders were not necessarily capable fishers and/or hunters in the Jomon communities. However, during the Early Epi-Jomon, only successful fishers and/or hunters had the power to control rituals and the long-distance trade.

KEYWORDS:

• Sea mammal hunting
• fishing
• Jomon
• Epi-Jomon
• Hokkaido

Acknowledgments

My thanks go to Lisa Janz, Ben Fitzhugh, Michael Etnier, Olga Shubina, Alexander Popov, Erik Gjesfjeld, Kaoru Tezuka, Tomoya Aono, Kyosuke Ohya, Akira Ishikawa, Shigeto Inokuma, Takamune Takabateke, Shinta Inagaki, Toshiaki Asano, Nagisa Nakatsuka, and Yu Taneishi for providing me useful comments and information for this study. I am also grateful for two anonymous reviewers; their comments greatly contributed to improving this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) under Grant number [15H01899].

Notes on contributors

Katsunori Takase

Katsunori Takase is an associate professor at the Graduate School of Humanities and Human Sciences, Hokkaido University. His research focuses on prehistoric resource use in Northeast Asia using methods of the lithic use-wear analysis, archaeobotany, and zooarchaeology. He is heading an international research project on the history of the Kuril Ainu and palaeoecology of the western North Pacific.