Northern and Central Japan, East Asia. Late Holocene Vegetation, Fire Dynamics and Transition to Agriculture. The Research of 2021 to 2023

Abstract

The integration of archaeological and geological data is crucial to explore how the shift from foraging to farming and the intensification of agricultural systems have impacted natural environments. On the Kanto Plain in Central Japan, which is today home to one of the world’s largest urban agglomerations, these processes, which be­gan during the Yayoi period (7^th century BC–250 AD), are still poorly understood due to a lack of crop cultivation and palaeoenvironmental records. The report presents a new 730-cm-long sediment core, which was recovered from Lake Morinji in the nort­hern part of the plain. The robust AMS radiocarbon-derived chronology and the first results of the palynological and microcharcoal analyses demonstrate the potential of the core as a high-resolution record of vegetation change, anthropogenic deforesta­tion, and land-use of the last 3800 years, and for dating the onset and spread of crop cultivation in the study area. A first systematic analysis of macrobotanical remains from cultural layers of the Maenakanishi settlement site located in the vicinity of the lake shows the cropping system of local early farmers and provides evidence for population increase and migration in response to social hierarchy and agricultural intensification during the middle Yayoi period.