This episode will be our final look at the Jomon Period in Japan.  Specifically we are focusing on the northern Jomon, in Tohoku and Hokkaido.  We'll take a brief overview of this northern area throughout the Jomon period, and then focus on the transition from the Middle to Late and Final Jomon periods.

As for the title, see our lovely friend right here—a shakoki, or goggle-style, figurine. Doesn’t she look like some kind of buff, angry alien? This one is a reconstruction of the original, which is actually missing its left leg—broken off in an apparent ritual. Below are some other examples of figurines from northern Japan, along with lacquerware and more.

We also included something we didn’t talk about in the podcast—clay masks, which we also find throughout the archipelago in various shapes and some not even made out of pottery.

And speaking of rituals, here is an article in Atlas Obscura about the Oyu Stone Circles.

We also have a treat this episode--we are getting our best glimpse yet of the people through the DNA of one of the women from Funadomari.  We'll take a look at what we know about her, including what is up with the whole "wet earwax" thing.

BTW, for those who want to better understand the whole “wet earwax” thing, here’s an article on the subject by Dr. John McDonald.

If you enjoy this episode, please feel free to reach out and Tweet or email us, or drop comments in the Comment section, below this post. 

References

• 2019 Geggel, Laura “Freckled Woman with High Alcohol Tolerance Lived in Japan 3,800 years ago” (https://www.livescience.com/65536-ancient-japanese-woman-genetics.html), Live Science, 22 May 2019

• 2019 Kanazawa-Kiriyama, Hideaki, et al; “Late Jomon male and female genome sequences from the Funadomari site in Hokkaido, Japan.”  Anthropological Science, 15 April 2019 (https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ase/advpub/0/advpub_190415/_pdf/-char/en)

• 2011 McDonald, J.H., Myths of Human Genetics. Sparky House Publishing, Baltimore, Maryland. https://udel.edu/~mcdonald/mythearwax.html

• 2003 (June) Togawa, Minako; “The Jomon Clay Figurines of the Kaminabe Site, Kyushu, Japan”

• 2002 Mizoguchi, Koji; An Archaeological History of Japan: 30,000 B.C. to A.D. 700

• 2000 Naumann, Nelly; Japanese Prehistory: The Material and Spritual Culture of the Jōmon Period

• 1988 Barnes, Gina L.; Protohistoric Yamato: Archaeology of the First Japanese State

• 1996 Aikins, C. Melvin and Akazawa, Takeru, “The Pleistocene-Holocene Transition in Japan and Adjacent Northeast Asia.” In: Straus L.g., Erksen B.V., Erlandson J.M., Yesner D.R. (eds) Humans at the End of the Ice Age: Interdiciplinary Contributions to Archaeology, pp 215-227, Spring, Boston, MA

• 1996 Imamura, Keiji; Prehistoric Japan: New Perspectives on Insular East Asia