In prehistoric art, the term "Jomon", which means "cord pattern" in Japanese ,refers to the ancient pottery produced by Japan's first Stone Age culture, during the period 14,500 and 1000
BCE. It was named Jomon pottery by the American zoologist Edward S. Morse (1838-1925), who excavated the first known examples of Jomon ceramic art from the Omori shell-mound near
Tokyo. Because all the recovered sherds had marks of twisted cords on their exterior surfaces,
Morse gave them the name "Jomon". In fact, the name "Jomon" is now used to describe the entire prehistoric culture of Japanese art, a culture which began in the era of Paleolithic Art, and continued throughout the period of Neolithic Art, before finishing about 300 BCE, towards the end of …show more content…
Exactly how and why Jomon pottery began, remains unclear. We do know from the recent dating of Xianrendong Cave Pottery (18,000 BCE) and Yuchanyan Cave Pottery
(16,000 BCE) that Chinese pottery was the first type of ceramic ware in East Asia. We also know from the dating of the Amur River Pottery that Chinese know-how had spread into the Siberian borderlands by 14,300 BCE at the latest. So it is almost certain that Jomon pottery, of which the earliest known example comes from the Odaiyamamoto I site in the Tohoku region of northern
Japan dating to 14,540 BCE was based originally on Chinese techniques and traditions. Furthermore, as migrants from the Asian mainland brought full-time wet rice agriculture with them, most likely around 4,000 BCE, ceramic vessels would have become even more useful for boiling rice and storage purposes. Jomon potsherds have been recovered from archeological sites across Japan from northern Hokkaido to southern Ryukyus but they are more common in the eastern part of the country, where Jomon culture survived longest. All Jomon vessels were hand made, without the aid of a potter's wheel, which wasn't invented until about 4,000
BCE. It was named Jomon pottery by the American zoologist Edward S. Morse (1838-1925), who excavated the first known examples of Jomon ceramic art from the Omori shell-mound near
Tokyo. Because all the recovered sherds had marks of twisted cords on their exterior surfaces,
Morse gave them the name "Jomon". In fact, the name "Jomon" is now used to describe the entire prehistoric culture of Japanese art, a culture which began in the era of Paleolithic Art, and continued throughout the period of Neolithic Art, before finishing about 300 BCE, towards the end of …show more content…
Exactly how and why Jomon pottery began, remains unclear. We do know from the recent dating of Xianrendong Cave Pottery (18,000 BCE) and Yuchanyan Cave Pottery
(16,000 BCE) that Chinese pottery was the first type of ceramic ware in East Asia. We also know from the dating of the Amur River Pottery that Chinese know-how had spread into the Siberian borderlands by 14,300 BCE at the latest. So it is almost certain that Jomon pottery, of which the earliest known example comes from the Odaiyamamoto I site in the Tohoku region of northern
Japan dating to 14,540 BCE was based originally on Chinese techniques and traditions. Furthermore, as migrants from the Asian mainland brought full-time wet rice agriculture with them, most likely around 4,000 BCE, ceramic vessels would have become even more useful for boiling rice and storage purposes. Jomon potsherds have been recovered from archeological sites across Japan from northern Hokkaido to southern Ryukyus but they are more common in the eastern part of the country, where Jomon culture survived longest. All Jomon vessels were hand made, without the aid of a potter's wheel, which wasn't invented until about 4,000