The Jomon Period is the earliest historical era of Japanese history which began around 14500 BCE, coinciding with the Neolithic Period in Europe and Asia, and ended around 300 BCE when the Yayoi Period began. The name Jomon, meaning 'cord marked' or 'patterned', comes from the style of pottery made during that time. Although the entire period is called Jomon, various phases can be identified based on the style and intended use of the pottery.

? ? ? ? ? 繩紋時代是日本歷史上最早的歷史時代，約始于公元前14500年，與歐洲和亞洲的新石器時代相吻合，并在公元前300年左右結束，即彌生時代開始。繩紋這個名字，意思是“標記”或“用繩子蓋上”，來自于那個時期制作的陶器風格。盡管整個時期都被稱為繩紋，但根據(jù)陶器的風格和預期用途，可以確定不同的階段。

定居與生活

The people that came to what would be known today as Japan first did so near the end of the last glacial period, or Ice Age, most likely while following animal herds over land bridges formed during the glacial period. When the climate warmed and the land bridges disappeared, the soon-to-be Jomon people found themselves on an island. With the animal herds cut off from their homelands dying off, the Jomon people utilized hunting and gathering to fulfil their needs. Their diet has been found to consist of bears, boars, fish, shellfish, yams, wild grapes, walnuts, chestnuts, and acorns. Evidence of their diet was found inside middens, domestic waste disposal piles, and shell mounds that were found near villages.

? ? ? ? ? 第一批到達我們今天所知道的日本的居民，最初是在最后一次冰河期或冰河時代末期到達的，大概是跟隨成群的動物穿過冰河時期形成的陸橋。當氣候變暖，陸橋消失時，那些后來成為繩紋人的原始人利用他們的狩獵采集技能來確保生計。隨著被隔斷的動物群從他們的故鄉(xiāng)消失，繩紋人利用狩獵和采集來滿足他們的生存需求。已知的食物包括熊、野豬、魚、貝類、山藥、野葡萄、核桃、栗子和橡子。他們的飲食證據(jù)是在村莊附近的糞坑、生活垃圾處理堆和貝殼堆中發(fā)現(xiàn)的。

Starting around 5000 BCE, the Jomon developed a more sedentary lifestyle settling into villages; the largest one at the time covered around 100 acres (c. 0.4 km2) and had about 500 people. Villages near the sea would have relied heavily on fishing while settlements further inland adopted a primarily hunting lifestyle. In many villages, what are assumed to be ceremonial stone platforms and storage pits have been found. The initial simple shelters of the villages would soon develop into pithouses built around a central fireplace, with a structure supported by pillars, accommodating around five people each. The Jomon people would settle in different areas depending on the changing climate; colder periods would require proximity to the sea as evidenced by much larger mounds of shells and fish bones found compared to warmer periods when the settlement pattern shows a shift to further inland sites in order to take advantage of the flourishing flora and fauna.

? ? ? ? ? 大約從公元前5000年開始，繩紋人發(fā)展了一種更加固定的生活方式，定居在村莊里；當時最大的村莊占地約100英畝（約0.4平方公里），約有500人?？拷蠛５拇迩f主要依靠漁業(yè)，而在內(nèi)陸的村莊則主要采用狩獵的生活方式。在許多村莊里，已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了被認為是儀式用的石臺和儲藏坑。村莊最初的簡單住所很快就發(fā)展成圍繞中央壁爐建造的半掩埋石屋，其結構由支柱支撐，每個石屋可容納約五人。繩文人會根據(jù)氣候的變化在不同的地區(qū)定居；寒冷的時期需要靠近大海，這一點可以從發(fā)現(xiàn)的大貝殼和魚骨堆中得到證明，而在溫暖的時期，定居模式顯示出向更遠的內(nèi)陸地區(qū)轉移，以利用豐富的植物和動物資源。

Along with the change in habitation, the total population underwent significant fluctuation: by 5000 BCE the population would grow from 20,000 to 100,000, only to grow further to 200,000 by 3000 BCE before falling back to 100,000 by the end of the period. Although the Jomon people had a somewhat sedentary life, the agricultural revolution only came with the introduction of rice farming near the end of the Jomon Period. This was around 900 BCE when along with advanced metalworking techniques rice was brought to southwestern Japan from what is today Korea.

? ? ? ? ? 伴隨著居住環(huán)境的變化，總人口經(jīng)歷了重大的波動：到公元前5000年，人口可能從2萬增長到10萬，到公元前3000年進一步增長到20萬，到該時期結束時又回落到10萬。盡管繩紋人的生活有些固定，但農(nóng)業(yè)革命只是在繩紋時期接近尾聲時才引入水稻耕作。那是在公元前900年左右，水稻和先進的金屬加工技術一起從今天的韓國傳入日本西南部。

技? ? ?術

Jomon technology, for the most part, consists of basic stone and wooden tools such as knives and axes as well as bows and arrows, similar to Neolithic technology used in Europe and the rest of Asia. Alongside stone tools, various traps and snares also aided the Jomon people in hunting. Clothing was made from the bark of the mulberry tree, put together using bone needles, and the Jomon were also found to weave wicker baskets. Since at certain periods the Jomon people were settled near the ocean, fishing tools like harpoons and hooks were developed alongside the techniques to use them. Unlike Europe and the rest of Asia, agriculture was not practiced until much later, near the end of the period, so no tools for large-scale farming have been found until the Yayoi period. However, there is evidence of small-scale horticulture or gardening.

? ? ? ? ? 大多數(shù)繩紋技術包括基本的石器和木制工具，如刀和斧頭，以及弓和箭，類似于歐洲和亞洲其他地區(qū)掌握的新石器時代技術。除了石制工具外，各種陷阱和圈套也有助于繩紋人的狩獵活動。衣服是用桑樹皮制作的，用骨針拼接而成，繩紋人還會編織柳條籃子。由于在某些時期，繩紋人在海洋附近定居，他們掌握了魚叉和魚鉤等捕魚工具以及使用它們的技術。與歐洲和亞洲其他地區(qū)不同的是，當?shù)氐霓r(nóng)業(yè)直到很晚才開始發(fā)展，接近繩紋時代末期，所以直到彌生時期都沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)大規(guī)模耕作的工具。然而，有證據(jù)表明，當時已經(jīng)出現(xiàn)了小規(guī)模的園藝或耕作。

繩紋陶器

Jomon pottery was made by hand, without the use of a potter's wheel, by building up from the bottom coils of soft clay mixed with other materials such as fibers or crushed shells. Afterwards, the outside and inside of the pottery were smoothed out by tools and then fired in an outdoor bonfire. The remains of the Jomon pottery itself are the oldest pottery to be dated in the world, thousands of pieces of which have been found. The pottery used in the earliest part of the Jomon Period, the Incipient (14500 BCE - 5000 BCE), had rounded bottoms and were used to cook outside, steadied on top of a pile of stones or sand. The next form of pottery, used in the Early Jomon (5000 BCE - 3000 BCE), had flat bottoms and was increasingly intended for indoor use. In the Middle Jomon Period (3000 BCE - 1000 BCE), vessels were more elaborately decorated depicting flames or snakes among other things, and in the Late Jomon Period (1000 BCE - 300 BCE), the walls of the pottery became thinner and vessels had a wider array of uses.

? ? ? ? ? 繩紋陶器是在不使用輪子的情況下，通過將混合有其他材料（例如纖維或碎殼）的粘土圓柱疊加在一起制成的。之后，用不同的器具將內(nèi)部和外部打磨光滑，然后在室外的篝火中燒制。繩紋陶器是世界上可以確定的最古老的陶器之一，已發(fā)現(xiàn)數(shù)千件陶器。繩紋時代初期使用的陶器，或初期繩紋（公元前 14,500 年 - 公元前 5,000 年）底部是圓形的，用于戶外做飯，陶器被穩(wěn)穩(wěn)地放在一堆石頭或沙子上面。紋文早期（公元前5000年-公元前3000年）使用的陶器，有平底，越來越多地用于室內(nèi)使用。在繩紋中期（公元前3000年-公元前1000年），器皿的裝飾更加精細，上面描繪了火焰或蛇等，在繩紋晚期（公元前1000年-公元前300年），陶器內(nèi)壁變薄，器皿的用途更加廣泛。

儀式與信仰

The Jomon have been found to bury infants in large jars, adults inside pits and shell mounds near villages, and place ceremonial offerings and other ornaments in graves from the Middle to Late Jomon Periods. Starting sometime in the earlier Jomon phases the clay dogu figurines were made and intially started as flat images ranging in size from 3 to 30 centimeters. By the Middle Jomon phase the figurines became more widespread and numerous, and by the Late Jomon phase, the figurines acquired three-dimensional features. Many such figures depicted pregnant women in the hope of boosting fertility or they depicted regular people which were sometimes broken in the belief that any bad luck or illness would pass to the figurine and miss the living person it represented. A common practice for males entering puberty would be ritualistic teeth pulling for unknown reasons. In northern Japan, a number of stone circles have been found around villages dating to the Jomon Period, the purpose of which is not known but theorized to be for a plentiful hunt or fishing.

? ? ? ? ? 考古學家發(fā)現(xiàn)，繩紋人會將死去的嬰兒埋在大罐子里，將死去的成人埋在村莊附近的坑和貝冢里，并且在繩紋中期至晚期的墳墓中發(fā)現(xiàn)了祭品和其他裝飾品。從早期繩紋時期的某個時候開始，人們創(chuàng)造了“土偶”，最初是扁平的形象，大小從3到30厘米不等。到了繩紋中期，“土偶”變得廣泛；到了繩紋晚期，“土偶”初具三維特征。許多雕像描繪的是孕婦，人們希望以此能提高生育能力；還有描繪普通人的土陶偶，有時會被打破，因為人們相信任何壞運氣或疾病都會傳給雕像，而錯過它所代表的活人。對進入青春期的男性來說，一個常見的做法是進行拔牙儀式，原因不明。在日本北部，人們在可以追溯到繩紋時代的村莊周圍發(fā)現(xiàn)了一些石圈，其用途不詳，但據(jù)推測是為了幫助狩獵或捕魚。

向彌生時代的過渡

For most of the Jomon Period, Japan was isolated from the rest of Asia so the culture, society, and technology could be called more original and, arguably, more primitive since it could not gain access to the ideas and technology of other cultures. It was not until later phases of the period that evidence was found that indicated contact with the mainland such as similar pottery in Korea, and Kyushu, the southernmost island of Japan. The Jomon people would eventually learn rice growing and metalworking from Korea as well as come into contact with people who would mix with the natives in more southern region. They would become the modern Japanese people, although a small group would maintain a higher percentage of original Jomon DNA far to the north, on the island of Hokkaido.

? ? ? ? ? 在繩紋時代的大部分時間里，日本與亞洲其他國家隔絕，因此其文化、社會和技術可以說是比較分化的，也可以說是比較原始的，因為它無法獲得其他文化的思想和技術。直到這一時期的后期，才發(fā)現(xiàn)有證據(jù)表明與大陸的接觸，如韓國和日本最南端的九州島的類似陶器。繩紋人從韓國學習水稻種植和金屬加工，并與更多南部地區(qū)的土著人接觸。這些人后來成為現(xiàn)代日本人，盡管有一小部分人在北面的北海道島上保持著較高比例的原始繩文DNA。

參考書目：

Collcutt M., Jansen M., Kumakura I. Cultural Atlas of Japan. Facts On File, 1988.

Henshall, K. A History of Japan. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

History - Jomon PeriodAccessed 1 Dec 2016.

Jomon Culture (ca. 10,500-ca. 300 BCE) Accessed 1 Dec 2016.

Jomon Culture - Ancient CultureAccessed 1 Dec 2016.

Tames, R. Traveller's History of Japan. Interlink Publishing Group, 2008.

原文網(wǎng)址：https://www.worldhistory.org/Jomon_Period/