Examining frequency and directionality of Palaeolithic sea-crossing over the Korea/Tsushima Strait: a synthesis

ABSTRACT

Offshore landmasses in the Western Pacific were colonized during the Late Pleistocene through deliberate seafaring by modern humans. However, our knowledge of the developmental process of the Palaeolithic seafaring is still limited due to lack of reliable chronology for such seafaring. To contribute to this issue, we synthesize lines of evidence on repeated sea-crossings over the Korea/Tsushima Strait, a major passage to the Japanese archipelago. Shortly after the earliest evidence of flake assemblages around 39,000–37,000 cal BP, a sudden appearance of blade reduction is observed, suggesting multiple sea-crossings over this strait in the early Upper Palaeolithic. Subsequently, a unique type of stemmed points spread across the strait, signaling another sea-crossing during 29,300–27,500 cal BP. Furthermore, the obsidian provenance analysis suggests bidirectional sea-crossings during the Last Glacial Maximum. These sea-crossings seem to have occurred regardless of narrowness of the strait with changing sea level, whereas it is possible that bidirectional crossing was triggered by this factor.

KEYWORDS:

• Japanese archipelago
• Palaeolithic
• Korea/Tsushima Strait
• Sea-crossing
• frequency
• directionality

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Yosuke Kaifu (The University Tokyo), Ikeya Nobuyuki (Meiji University), Hiroyuki Sato (The University of Tokyo), Motoki Miyoshi (Hyogo Construction Technology Center for Regional Development), Koichiro Mori (Agency for Cultural Affairs-Japan), Hyeonggil Chang (Chungbuk Research Institute of Cultural Heritage), Yoonmi Cho (Mokpo National University), and Kaoru Otani (Tokyo Metropolitan Office of Education) for the assistance. We wish to thank two anonymous reviewers whose comments helped to improve this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

Kazuki Morisaki conducted radiocarbon age modeling, wrote the main text, and prepared the supplementary materials. Kojiro Shiba reviewed the obsidian provenance studies and wrote Section 4. Donghyuk Choi reviewed and collected radiocarbon dates of South Korea and prepared the supplementary materials. All authors reviewed and approved the final draft.

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting this study’s findings are available within the article and its supplementary materials https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2023.2172071

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2023.2172071

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the JSPS KAKENHI grant numbers JP18H03596 (PI: Yosuke Kaifu) and JP21H00608 (PI: Kazuki Morisaki).

Notes on contributors

Kazuki Morisaki

Kazuki Morisaki is an Associate Professor of Archaeology at the University of Tokyo, where he conducts archaeological researches focusing specifically on the history of migration and adaptation of modern humans in the Japanese Archipelago. He is also interested in applying underwater archaeology to Palaeolithic context.

Kojiro Shiba

Kojiro Shiba is a Senior Cultural Properties Specialist at the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan. He is a Palaeolithic archaeologist who researches microblade assemblages and obsidian circulation in Kyushu and Korean Peninsula.

Donghyuk Choi

Donghyuk Choi is a graduate student at the University of Tokyo. He is an Palaeolithic archaeologist who researches chronology and lithic technology of Palaeolithic South Korea.