Paper short abstract:

This paper evaluates the role of grinding stones in the processing of wild plants by analysing starch granules extracted from stone artefacts dating to the early-to-middle Jomon period of northern Japan.

Paper long abstract:

The thorough reconstruction of prehistoric technologies and their role in food processing remains one of the most challenging questions in archaeological research. This is especially the case because perishable materials are usually poorly preserved in the archaeological record, and direct evidence linking tools to specific plant foods is often lacking. This question has proved problematic in the case of archaeological assemblages dated to the Jomon period (between 15,000 cal BP and 2,500 cal BP) in Japan.

Due to recent large-scale land development, plant remains excavated from lowland sites have been studied extensively over the last thirty years. Recent progress in technique development has also enabled the study of plant remains, in many cases previously impossible. In addition, refinements in radiocarbon dating from the year 2000 and onwards have enabled more precise discussion of the detailed relationships between pottery types, environmental transitions, human activities, and the fine sequence of remains that occur at a site. Thus, on the basis of current results, it is clear that the Jomon people were not simply hunter-gatherers but that they intensively utilised various plant resources around their settlements since at least the early Jomon period, around 7,000 cal BP.

This paper evaluates the role of grinding stones in the processing of wild plants by analysing starch granules extracted from stone artefacts dating to the early-to-middle Jomon period of northern Japan. Macro- and microbotanical remains demonstrate the presence of different kinds of plant resources, while the former provide evidence for the intensive processing of nuts and acorns. Starch granules that remain on grinding stones are primarily derived from nuts and acorns, but there is also some evidence for the presence of geophytes mostly from within the family Liliaceae. On the basis of these results, we reevaluate the hypothesis that intensive processing of nuts and acorns was conducted as a basic form of wild plant food production during the early-to-middle Jomon period. Starch residue patterns can reveal traces of the systematic use of grinding stones, the role and costs of processing technology, and the relative value of wild plant resources.