More on mobility and sedentism: Changes in adaptation from Upper Paleolithic to Incipient Jomon, Tanegashima Island, southern Japan.

Sedentism is an adaptive alternative in human societies which is often associated with the emergence of complex societies in the Holocene. To elucidate the factors and processes of the emergence of sedentary societies, continuous accumulation of case studies based on robust evidence from across the...

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Main Authors: Kazuki Morisaki, Fumie Iizuka, Masami Izuho, Mark Aldenderfer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0314311
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author Kazuki Morisaki
Fumie Iizuka
Masami Izuho
Mark Aldenderfer
author_facet Kazuki Morisaki
Fumie Iizuka
Masami Izuho
Mark Aldenderfer
author_sort Kazuki Morisaki
collection DOAJ
description Sedentism is an adaptive alternative in human societies which is often associated with the emergence of complex societies in the Holocene. To elucidate the factors and processes of the emergence of sedentary societies, continuous accumulation of case studies based on robust evidence from across the world is required. Given abundant archaeological and geological evidence from the late Pleistocene to early Holocene, Tanegashima Island, situated in the southern Japanese Archipelago of the northwestern Pacific Rim, has significant potential to unravel factors and processes of sedentism. Our study evaluates long-term change in hunter-gatherer mobility on Tanegashima Island from the Upper Paleolithic to Incipient Jomon (ca.36,000-12,800 cal BP). Based on Bayesian age modelling, we performed diachronic analyses on lithic toolkit structure, lithic reduction technology, lithic raw material composition, and occupation intensity. The results illustrate that settlement-subsistence strategies on Tanegashima primarily correspond to the change in environmental conditions, mainly food resources, and foragers increased their degrees of sedentism when abundant forest existed. More important is that highly stable sedentism, which is not observed until the Incipient Jomon, depends not only on such a productive environment, but also on the increase in population size. High occupation intensity during the Incipient Jomon on the island is likely attributed to an influx of people from Kyushu proper. Although the relationship between cause and effect of these factors is still to be clarified in future work, our study provides insights on the fundamental causes of sedentism in the temperate forest of the late Pleistocene.
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spelling doaj-art-48478be7645e412f95805754b753d09e2025-02-05T05:32:03ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01201e031431110.1371/journal.pone.0314311More on mobility and sedentism: Changes in adaptation from Upper Paleolithic to Incipient Jomon, Tanegashima Island, southern Japan.Kazuki MorisakiFumie IizukaMasami IzuhoMark AldenderferSedentism is an adaptive alternative in human societies which is often associated with the emergence of complex societies in the Holocene. To elucidate the factors and processes of the emergence of sedentary societies, continuous accumulation of case studies based on robust evidence from across the world is required. Given abundant archaeological and geological evidence from the late Pleistocene to early Holocene, Tanegashima Island, situated in the southern Japanese Archipelago of the northwestern Pacific Rim, has significant potential to unravel factors and processes of sedentism. Our study evaluates long-term change in hunter-gatherer mobility on Tanegashima Island from the Upper Paleolithic to Incipient Jomon (ca.36,000-12,800 cal BP). Based on Bayesian age modelling, we performed diachronic analyses on lithic toolkit structure, lithic reduction technology, lithic raw material composition, and occupation intensity. The results illustrate that settlement-subsistence strategies on Tanegashima primarily correspond to the change in environmental conditions, mainly food resources, and foragers increased their degrees of sedentism when abundant forest existed. More important is that highly stable sedentism, which is not observed until the Incipient Jomon, depends not only on such a productive environment, but also on the increase in population size. High occupation intensity during the Incipient Jomon on the island is likely attributed to an influx of people from Kyushu proper. Although the relationship between cause and effect of these factors is still to be clarified in future work, our study provides insights on the fundamental causes of sedentism in the temperate forest of the late Pleistocene.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0314311
spellingShingle Kazuki Morisaki
Fumie Iizuka
Masami Izuho
Mark Aldenderfer
More on mobility and sedentism: Changes in adaptation from Upper Paleolithic to Incipient Jomon, Tanegashima Island, southern Japan.
PLoS ONE
title More on mobility and sedentism: Changes in adaptation from Upper Paleolithic to Incipient Jomon, Tanegashima Island, southern Japan.
title_full More on mobility and sedentism: Changes in adaptation from Upper Paleolithic to Incipient Jomon, Tanegashima Island, southern Japan.
title_fullStr More on mobility and sedentism: Changes in adaptation from Upper Paleolithic to Incipient Jomon, Tanegashima Island, southern Japan.
title_full_unstemmed More on mobility and sedentism: Changes in adaptation from Upper Paleolithic to Incipient Jomon, Tanegashima Island, southern Japan.
title_short More on mobility and sedentism: Changes in adaptation from Upper Paleolithic to Incipient Jomon, Tanegashima Island, southern Japan.
title_sort more on mobility and sedentism changes in adaptation from upper paleolithic to incipient jomon tanegashima island southern japan
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0314311
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