Jomon

Jomon refers to the prehistoric period in Japan characterized by the production of distinctive pottery by hunter-gatherer communities across the Japanese archipelago. The period is dated roughly from 14,000 BCE to about 300 BCE, though regional sequences vary. The name Jomon, meaning rope-marked, derives from the cord-impressed patterns on ceramic vessels that define the earliest pottery tradition in Japan.

Jomon people were foragers who supplemented marine resources with plant foods and small game. Many communities practised at least semi-sedentary settlement, with pit houses and storage facilities. They developed a broad toolkit of stone, bone, and antler implements and produced pottery with cord-marked decoration used for cooking, storage, and possibly ritual purposes. Clay figurines, known as dogū, are among the best-known artifacts and reflect ritual or symbolic behavior within Jomon societies.

Trade and exchange networks linked regions of Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Hokkaido, and some materials such as obsidian and shell ornaments traveled long distances. Notable sites include Sannai-Maruyama in Aomori, which reveals a substantial long-term settlement, among many coastal and inland communities that show durable occupation and complex material culture.

The Jomon ended as the Yayoi period began, around the last centuries BCE, when new agricultural practices, metallurgy, and population movements from the Asian continent altered social and economic systems. Genetic and archaeological evidence suggests some continuity between Jomon communities and later populations, even as agriculture spread. The Jomon are regarded as a foundational culture in the prehistoric history of Japan.