Posted on 03/29/2004 11:58:24 AM PST by blam
Jomon fishing site discovered
Yomiuri Shimbun
Bones unearthed near Okinoshima in Tateyama show that between about 6,500 B.C. and 7,500 B.C., dolphins were being fished off the coast of what now is part of Chiba Prefecture.
As well as indicating that dolphins were being fished for about 1,000 years in the early Jomon period (ca 10,000 B.C.-ca 300 B.C.), objects found at the site gave researchers clues about the natural environment 8,000 years ago.
"We found lots of valuable data, as well as learning lots about the natural environment during the early Jomon period, when the climate was gradually warming up after the last ice age," said Prof. Seiichi Yanagisawa of Chiba University's faculty of letters, who led the research.
Although the area excavated was only about 20 square meters, a number of artifacts dating from the middle of the early Jomon period were unearthed, including 8,000-year-old earthenware, an obsidian arrowhead and stone implements used for stripping bones and skin. The remains of an early Jomon fire also were uncovered.
Bones apparently belonging to a fully grown dolphin that measured about 2.5 meters in length also were found mingled with the man-made items.
"There is what looks like an underwater valley in Tateyama Bay in which Jomon fishermen probably used to corner dolphins before catching them," Yanagisawa said.
"The bones we dug up probably belonged to a dolphin that had been cut up after being caught in that way," he added.
Excavation work on the Okinoshima site, which was jointly carried out by Awa Museum in Tateyama and the archeology department of Chiba University, started on April 30 last year and continued until May 6.
Researchers are planning to carry out a second dig on the same site this autumn to get an even more detailed picture of life there 8,000 years ago.
The dig was only possible because the area of Tateyama Bay around Okinoshima, which used to be an island, was joined to the mainland by the Genroku Kanto Earthquake of 1703 and the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, which caused the ground level to rise, according to Yanagisawa.
It is rare to be able to excavate Jomon sites of archeological interest that were near the sea during that period because most sites of that kind are now beneath sea level, the professor said.
"There are lots of Jomon remains around Tateyama because ground that used to be below sea level is now above sea level," said Tozo Okamoto, who is also a professor in Chiba University's faculty of letters, and who has investigated a separate set of remains about two kilometers southeast of Okinoshima.
"From a second dig, we should get an even clearer picture of what daily life and the natural environment were like during the Jomon period," he said.
That is one thing that strikes me as a big potential clue: if it were possible to establish any cultural and/or chronological correlation between jade art styles in China and America, it might help pinpoint when cultural exchange may have occurred.
I imagine that's even a harder problem when dealing with pre-Buddhist periods. BTW, when did writing first appear in SE Asia?
The oldest iron (maybe bronze, forgot which) making site in the world is located in Thailand. That suprised me.
The Hakka have origins in northern China and over the centuries they migrated all the way across China (those with caucasian features were persecuted and slaughtered on the way) mainly into Guandong province but also to Japan, Korea, Taiwan and today, all over the world. To this day, they are referred to as the 'guests.' My local Chinese restaurant owner was shocked when I asked her if she was Hakka and when she said "yes", I said, "Ah "the guests." We're pretty good friends now, lol.
Huh, interesting. I hadn't heard that before, so I just looked it up. I guess the site is named Ban Chiang:
Bang Chiang is an archeological site located in the Udon Thani province, Thailand. It is listed in the UNESCO world heritage list.
Discovered in 1957 it attracted enormous publicity due to attractive red painted pottery. The first scientific excavation was made in 1967 and uncovered several skeletons together with bronze grave gifts. Rice fragments have also been found, which prove that the bronze age settlement was made by farmers. The oldest graves found contain no bronze and are therefore from a neolithic culture; the latest ones are from the iron age.
The first datings of the artefacts using the thermoluminescence technique resulted in 4420 BC-3400 BC, which would have made the site the earliest ever bronze age culture of the world. However with the 1974/75 excavation enough material for radiocarbon dating became available, which resulted in much later dates - the earliest grave was at about 2100 BC, the latest of 1320 BC-1000 BC.
References
Charles Higham, Prehistoric Thailand, ISBN 9748225305 , pp 84-88
I guess I should answer these in order next time!--just mentioned Ban Chiang in my Post #69 before noticing you mentioned it here :) Do you know if Ban Chiang artifacts have any type of proto-writing symbolism?
LOL! Do you have any links to pictures of Hakka? I'd like to see what they look like compared to other Chinese.
Now, The collapse of the Shang Dynasty aslo coincides with one of Professor Mike Baillie's worldwide catastrophies (1159BC) detected in the tree-rings worldwide. Here's an article by Baillie:
Did Asteroids And Comets Change The Tides Of Civilization?
Mandate of Heaven
Then astronomer Kevin Pang of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) noted that 1628 B.C. and 1159 B.C. roughly mark the beginning and end of the Shang Dynasty of Bronze Age China. Both ends of the dynasty featured, according to ancient Chinese texts, environmental disasters - dimming of the sun and summer frosts that caused crop failures and famine. Pang notes also the Chinese concept of "mandate of heaven," wherein a dynasty reigned only as long as it protected the well-being of its people. This notion might have originated in the coincidence of dynastic change and climatic disaster.
Some of these Chinese 'refugees' may have ended up in Mexico and gave a 'boost' to the Olmec civilication, huh?
There you go, I guess it was bronze. However, the article I read dealt with a smeltering/kiln site discovery.
Lost Civilization From 7,500BC Found Off Indian Coast
BTW, the oldest paper ever found was in the Tarim Basin and had the Indo-European language 'Tocharian' written on it.
No. Just descriptions. High nose-bridge, wavy hair, sometimes taller and ocassionally lighter hair/eyes.
Btw, I believe these people to be the asian equivalent of the Scythians. A great drought hit the Tarim Basin region and people migrated east and west...Hakkas-Schytians. (...and they're both related to the Xiongnu, Han, Hun, Saka, etc.)
Shu King, the Book of Historical Documents
Unfortunately the first Emperor of the Ch'in Dynasty, Shih Huang Ti, destroyed most copies of the Shu ching, and the copies we have now are based on fragments recovered by Han Dynasty historians and mixed with forgeries, so I think it's difficult to say much with confidence about the Shang Dynasty, apart from archaeological data. I do think the evidence for Chinese-Olmec links is significant, though.
Maybe the article was talking about what's discussed here?
Yup, more than just 'smoke', there's fire in there some where.
You are extremely good a searches. Do us a favor and see if you can find pictures of some Hakka Chinese. Thanks.
Speaking of the Scythians, you just reminded me of a note I jotted down that I meant to pass on to you guys--from my old World Book Encyclopedia:
About A.D. 120, the Scythians from central Asia conquered northern India. Their kings ruled as the Kushan dynasty. . .
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