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{{Short description|Period of human inhabitation in Japan predating the development of pottery}}
{{History of Japan|image=JapanesePolishedStoneAxes.JPG|caption=}}▼
{{Infobox historical era
[[Image:Japan glaciation.gif|thumb|250px|Japan at the [[Last Glacial Maximum]] in the [[Late Pleistocene]] about 20,000 years ago▼
| name = Japanese Paleolithic period
| location = {{flag|Japan}}
| start = 35,000 BCE
| end = 14,000 BCE
| image = Japan glaciation.gif
| alt =
▲
| before =
| including =
| after = [[Jōmon period]]
| key_events =
▲{{History of Japan|image=JapanesePolishedStoneAxes.JPG|caption= Paleolithic stone axes}}
▲|}
The {{Nihongo|'''Japanese Paleolithic period'''|旧石器時代|kyūsekki jidai}} is the period of human inhabitation in Japan predating the development of pottery, generally before 10,000 BC.<ref name=Japan>{{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=Allen |last2=Nobel |first2=David S |title=Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia |publisher=Kodansha |date=1993 |page=1186 |isbn=406205938X}}</ref> The starting dates commonly given to this period are from around 40,000 BC
The earliest human bones were discovered in the city of [[Hamamatsu]] in [[Shizuoka Prefecture]], which were determined by [[radiocarbon dating]] to date to around 18,000–14,000 years ago.
==Archaeology of the Paleolithic period==
The study of the Paleolithic period in Japan did not begin until quite recently: the first Paleolithic site was not discovered until 1946, right after the end of [[World War II]].<ref name=Japan/> Due to the previous assumption that humans did not live in Japan before the [[Jōmon period]], excavations usually stopped at the beginning of the Jōmon stratum (14,000 BC), and were not carried on further. However, since that first Paleolithic find by [[Tadahiro Aizawa]], around 5,000 Paleolithic sites have been discovered, some of them at existing Jōmon archaeological sites, and some dating to the [[Pleistocene]] era. Sites have been discovered from southern [[Kyushu]] to northern [[Hokkaido]], but most are small and only stone tools have been preserved due to the high acidity of the Japanese soil. As the
The study of the Japanese Paleolithic period is characterized by a high level of stratigraphic information due to the [[volcanic]] nature of the archipelago: large eruptions tend to cover the islands with levels of [[Volcanic ash]], which are easily datable and can be found throughout the country as a reference. A very important such layer is the AT ([[Aira Caldera|Aira]]-[[Tanzawa]]) [[pumice]], which covered all Japan around 21,000–22,000 years ago.
In 2000, the reputation of Japanese archaeology of the Paleolithic was heavily damaged by a scandal, which has become known as the [[Japanese Paleolithic hoax]]. The [[Mainichi Shimbun]] reported the photos in which [[Shinichi Fujimura]], an amateur archaeologist in [[Miyagi Prefecture]], had been planting artifacts at the ''Kamitakamori site'', where he "found" the artifacts the next day. He admitted the fabrication in an interview with the newspaper. The Japanese Archaeological Association disaffiliated Fujimura from its members. A special investigation team of the Association revealed that almost all the artifacts which he had found were his fabrication.▼
▲In 2000 the reputation of Japanese archaeology of the Paleolithic was heavily damaged by a scandal, which has become known as the [[Japanese Paleolithic hoax]]. The [[Mainichi Shimbun]] reported the photos in which [[Shinichi Fujimura]], an archaeologist in [[Miyagi Prefecture]], had been planting artifacts at the ''Kamitakamori site'', where he "found" the artifacts the next day. He admitted the fabrication in an interview with the newspaper. The Japanese Archaeological Association disaffiliated Fujimura from its members. A special investigation team of the Association revealed that almost all the artifacts which he had found were his fabrication.
Since the discovery of the hoax, only a few sites can tentatively date human activity in Japan to 40,000–50,000 BC, and the first widely accepted date of human presence on the archipelago can be reliably dated {{circa|35,000 BC}}.<ref name="keally">[http://www.t-net.ne.jp/~keally/preh.html Prehistoric Archaeological Periods in Japan], Charles T. Keally</ref> One of the most important sites dating to these times is [[Lake Nojiri]], which dates to 37,900 years [[Before Present]] (~36,000 BC), which shows evidence of butchery of two of the largest extinct megafauna species native to Japan, the elephant ''[[Palaeoloxodon naumanni]]'', and the giant deer ''[[Sinomegaceros|Sinomegaceros yabei]]''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Kondo |first1=Y. |last2=Takeshita |first2=Y. |last3=Watanabe |first3=T. |last4=Seki |first4=M. |last5=Nojiri-ko Excavation Research Group |date=April 2018 |title=Geology and Quaternary Environments of the Tategahana Paleolithic Site in Nojiri-ko (Lake Nojiri), Nagano, Central Japan |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618217300307 |journal=Quaternary International |language=en |volume=471 |pages=385–395 |bibcode=2018QuInt.471..385K |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2017.12.012}}</ref>
==Ground stone and polished tools==
The Japanese Paleolithic is unique in that it incorporates one of the earliest known sets of [[ground stone]] and polished stone tools in the world,<ref name="Oda2017">{{Cite journal|first=Shizuo |last=Oda |title=世界最古の磨製石斧と栗原遺跡 列島最古の旧石器文化を探る6 |trans-title=The World's Oldest Polished Stone Ax and the [[Kurihara Ruins]] Exploring the Oldest Paleolithic Culture of the Archipelago 6 |journal=多摩考古 |date=26 May 2017 |url=https://sitereports.nabunken.go.jp/124653 |volume=47 }}</ref> although older ground stone tools have been discovered in Australia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2016-05-11/worlds-oldest-known-ground-edge-stone-axe-fragments-found/7401728|title=World's oldest known ground-edge stone axe fragments found in WA
▲The Japanese Paleolithic is unique in that it incorporates one of the earliest known sets of [[ground stone]] and polished stone tools in the world, although older ground stone tools have been discovered in Australia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2016-05-11/worlds-oldest-known-ground-edge-stone-axe-fragments-found/7401728|title=World's oldest known ground-edge stone axe fragments found in WA|author=|date=11 May 2016|website=abc.net.au|accessdate=3 April 2018}}</ref><ref>"Prehistoric Japan, New perspectives on insular East Asia", Keiji Imamura, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, {{ISBN|0-8248-1853-9}}</ref> The tools, which have been dated to around 30,000 BC, are a technology associated in the rest of the world with the beginning of the [[Neolithic]] around 10,000 BC. It is not known why such tools were created so early in Japan.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://heritageofjapan.wordpress.com/pacing-the-paleolithic-path/stone-age-accessories/stone-tool-inventory/types-of-chipped-stone-artifacts/stone-age-news/the-puzzle-of-the-origin-of-the-worlds-earliest-polished-stone-tools/ |title=The puzzle of tracing the origin of the world's earliest polished stone tools |publisher=heritageofjapan |date= 2011-11-17|author= |accessdate= December 28, 2016}}</ref>
Because of this originality, the Japanese Paleolithic period in Japan does not exactly match the traditional definition of [[Paleolithic]] based on [[stone technology]] ([[chipped stone]] tools). Japanese Paleolithic tool implements thus display [[Mesolithic]] and [[Neolithic]] traits as early as 30,000 BC.
==Paleoanthropology==
The Paleolithic populations of Japan, as well as the later Jōmon populations, appear to relate to an ancient Paleo-Asian group which occupied large parts of Asia before the expansion of the populations characteristic of today's people of [[China]], [[Korea]], and [[Japan]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://aboutjapan.japansociety.org/content.cfm/early_japan_50000bc_710ad |title=About Japan: A Teacher's Resource |newspaper=Aboutjapan japansociety |access-date
During much of this period, Japan was connected to the Asian continent by land bridges due to lower sea levels.<ref name=Japan/> Skeletal characteristics point to many similarities with other aboriginal people of the Asian continent. Dental structures are distinct but generally closer to the [[Sundadont]] than to the Sinodont group, which points to an origin among groups in [[Southeast Asia]] or the islands south of the mainland. Skull features tend to be stronger, with comparatively recessed eyes.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://heritageofjapan.wordpress.com/pacing-the-paleolithic-path/origins-of-the-paleolithic-people/ |title=Origins of the Palaeolithic people of Japan |newspaper=heritageofjapan |date= 2007-07-11|
According to [[:ja:崎谷満|Mitsuru Sakitani]], the Jōmon people were an admixture of two distinct ethnic groups: A more ancient group (carriers of Y chromosome D1a) that were present in Japan since more than 30,000 years ago and a more recent group (carriers of Y chromosome C1a) that migrated to Japan about 13,000 years ago (Jomon).<ref>崎谷満『DNA・考古・言語の学際研究が示す新・日本列島史』（勉誠出版 2009年）(in Japanese)</ref>▼
Genetic analysis on today's populations is not clear-cut and tends to indicate a fair amount of genetic intermixing between the earliest populations of Japan and later arrivals ([[Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza|Cavalli-Sforza]]). It is estimated that
▲During much of this period, Japan was connected to the Asian continent by land bridges due to lower sea levels.<ref name=Japan/> Skeletal characteristics point to many similarities with other aboriginal people of the Asian continent. Dental structures are distinct but generally closer to the [[Sundadont]] than to the Sinodont group, which points to an origin among groups in [[Southeast Asia]] or the islands south of the mainland. Skull features tend to be stronger, with comparatively recessed eyes.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://heritageofjapan.wordpress.com/pacing-the-paleolithic-path/origins-of-the-paleolithic-people/ |title=Origins of the Palaeolithic people of Japan |newspaper=heritageofjapan |date= 2007-07-11|author= |accessdate= December 28, 2016}}</ref> According to “''Jōmon culture and the peopling of the Japanese archipelago''” by Schmidt and Seguchi, the prehistoric Jōmon people descended from a paleolithic populations of Siberia (in the area of the [[Altai Mountains]]). Other cited scholars point out similarities between the Jōmon and various paleolithic and [[Bronze Age]] Siberians. There were likely multiple migrations into ancient Japan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jjarchaeology.jp/contents/pdf/vol002/2-1_034-059.pdf|title=Jōmon culture and the peopling of the Japanese archipelago|last=Schmidt, Seguchi|date=31 August 2013|website=|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref>
Jōmon people were found to have been very heterogeneous. Jōmon samples from the [[Ōdai Yamamoto I Site]] differ from Jōmon samples of [[Hokkaido]] and geographically close eastern [[Honshu]]. Ōdai Yamamoto Jōmon were found to have [[haplogroup C-M8|C1a1]] and are genetically close to ancient and modern Northeast Asian groups but noteworthy different to other Jōmon samples such as Ikawazu or Urawa Jōmon. Similarly, the [[Nagano Prefecture|Nagano]] Jōmon from the [[Yugora cave site]] are closely related to contemporary East Asians but genetically different from the [[Ainu people]], who are direct descendants of the Hokkaido Jōmon.<ref>Adachi et al. 2013</ref><ref>Kanzawa-Kiriyama 2013</ref>
▲According to [[:ja:崎谷満|Mitsuru Sakitani]] the Jōmon people were an admixture of two distinct ethnic groups: A more ancient group (carriers of Y chromosome D1a) that were present in Japan since more than 30,000 years ago and a more recent group (carriers of Y chromosome C1a) that migrated to Japan about 13,000 years ago.<ref>崎谷満『DNA・考古・言語の学際研究が示す新・日本列島史』（勉誠出版 2009年）(in Japanese)</ref>
One study, published in the [[Cambridge University Press]] in 2020, suggests that the Jōmon people were rather heterogeneous, and that many Jōmon groups were descended from an ancient "Altaic-like" population (close to modern [[Tungusic peoples|Tungusic]]-speakers, represented by [[Oroqen people|Oroqen]]), which established itself over the local hunter gatherers. This “Altaic-like” population migrated from [[Northeast Asia]] in about 6,000 BC, and coexisted with other unrelated tribes and or intermixed with them, before being replaced by the later [[Yayoi people]]. C1a1 and C2 are linked to the "[[Tungusic peoples|Tungusic-like people]]", which arrived in the Jōmon period archipelago from [[Northeast Asia]] in about 6,000 BC and introduced the Incipient Jōmon culture, typified by early ceramic cultures such as the Ōdai Yamamoto I Site.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Chaubey|first1=Gyaneshwer|last2=Driem|first2=George van|date=2020|title=Munda languages are father tongues, but Japanese and Korean are not|journal=Evolutionary Human Sciences|language=en|volume=2|pages=e19 |doi=10.1017/ehs.2020.14|issn=2513-843X|doi-access=free|pmid=37588351 |pmc=10427457 }}</ref>
▲Genetic analysis on today's populations is not clear-cut and tends to indicate a fair amount of genetic intermixing between the earliest populations of Japan and later arrivals ([[Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza|Cavalli-Sforza]]). It is estimated that 20 to 30% of the genetic capital of the Japanese population ([[Yamato people]]) today derives from the aboriginal Paleolithic-Jōmon ancestry, with the remainder coming from later migrations from the continent, especially during the [[Yayoi period]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=He |first1=Yungang |last2=Wang |first2=Wei R. |last3=Xu |first3=Shuhua |last4=Jin |first4=Li |last5=SNP Consortium |first5=Pan-Asia |title=Paleolithic Contingent in Modern Japanese: Estimation and Inference using Genome-wide Data |journal=Scientific Reports |date=5 April 2012 |volume=2 |issue=1 |page=355 |doi=10.1038/srep00355 |pmid=22482036 |pmc=3320058 |bibcode=2012NatSR...2E.355H }}</ref> More recent estimates suggests about 10% Jōmon ancestry in modern Japanese (Yamato).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/555/|title='Jomon woman' helps solve Japan's genetic mystery |website=NHK WORLD-JAPAN News |language=en|access-date=2019-07-10}}</ref>
==See also==
{{Portal|Ancient Japan}}
*[[List of archaeological periods]]
*[[Prehistoric Asia]]
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==Bibliography==
* The History and Geography of Human Genes, Cavalli-Sforza, Princeton University Press, {{ISBN|0-691-08750-4}}
*Ainu:Spirit of a Northern People, National Museum of Natural History, [[Smithsonian Institution]], {{ISBN|0-9673429-0-2}}
*[http://www.asiaquarterly.com/content/view/124/5/ Shoh Yamada (2002). Harvard Asia Quarterly "Politics and Personality: Japan's Worst Archaeology Scandal", Volume VI, No. 3. Summer]
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{{Prehistoric Asia}}
{{Portal bar|Japan}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Paleolithic Japan| ]]
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