− Yoshihiro Nishiaki −

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Sedentism, farming, city

What was going on in Western Asia, on the opposite side of the Asian Continent, in Jomon period? In the same period, Western Asia had gone through from Paleolithic period to Neolithic, Chalcolithic periods, and even to metal and historic ages, as Fig.1 shows. In terms of social system, hunter-gatherers had formed the farming society, which developed into city and empire in a relatively short time. It contrasted sharply with the development in the Japanese Archipelago where rather static society continued for as long as 10,000 years, described collectively as the Jomon period.

In Western Asia that bustled through such cultural changes, the following three developments had historical importance: sedentism, farming, and the formation of city or state. Because each step was a springboard for the next, some archaeologists add the word "revolution", such as sedentary revolution, etc.

The sedentism began about 12,500 years ago (uncalibrated radiocarbon dating). Because their life depended basically on hunting and food-gathering since Paleolithic period, the people of that time is called sedentary hunter-gathers. Their culture is called Natufian culture. They lived in round pit-dwellings with stone walls and storage pit. Many of the remains unearthed at such dwelling sites are similar to those of the Neolithic period that followed. For example, sickles to harvest cereals, stone bowls and grinding-ground stones to mill nuts and grains were found in large numbers, making some researchers to assume that farming was already in practice. Though cereals had been in use since earlier times, a distinctively more intensive use is assumed to have began during this period. The storage of cereals made sedentism possible.

Farming began about 10,300 years ago, which marked the threshold of the Neolithic period. The main harvests were barley, wheat and pulses. It was a little later that the domestication of mid-size ungulate animals, such as goats and sheep began. Therefore, the life was supported by the mixture of cereal farming and hunting in the first half of the Neolithic period, and it was in the second half that the full-fledged food production on cereal farming and domesticated animals began. It was about 8,000 years ago that such transition of the economy completed. It was just about the time when the use of pottery began. That point separates the Neolithic period into the first half (Pre-pottery) and the second half (Pottery Neolithic) periods.

In the Neolithic period, dwellings were generally on the ground, and rectangle buildings using sun-dried mud bricks were popular. Equipped with a storage and oven for baking bread, the construction of such house is basically similar to that seen in today's farming villages. The village expanded over time and reached 10 hectors, as seen in the archaeological sites of the late Pre-Pottery Neolithic period. Large monuments emerged at around this time. The tower of Jericho, taller than 8 meters, is well known. Though it was earlier thought as used to protect the village, a predominant theory now is that it was used for religious purposes, because there is no evidence of wars at those times. On the other hand, huge stone sculptures, reminiscent of the ancient temple believed to have existed in the Andes, have begun to be unearthed in Turkey in recent years. Large ones are 3 meters tall, with animal figures, such as lions and snakes, engraved on them. These are also believed to have been related to ideologies.

The use of metals began to spread widely in the Chalcolithic period, which followed the Neolithic period. In the second half of that period, or in the middle of the sixth millennium BP., the third development occurred. It was the emergence of urban civilization. The very first city was born in South Mesopotamia. The emergence of a city marked the beginning of a new era because its scale, three to four score hectors or exceeding 100 hectors in some, was beyond comparison with that of villages. Large-area excavations at such archaeological sites as Uruk, Iraq and Habuba Kabira, Syria, show that the cities contained town walls, temples, streets, sewage, etc., which were located and built systematically and concertedly. Residents, which included those engaged in secondary industry besides those in primary industry, lived widely dispersed in areas sectioned by function, such as administration, religion, military, industry and residence. It is clear that there existed sophisticated hierarchical societies headed by leaders with political powers.

As regalias to maintain their powers and dignities, the leaders imported precious stones and specialty products from various places, and retained craftsmen to monopolize the manufacture of metal wares which also symbolized powers. Gorgeous burial accessories in the tombs of Sumerian kings and the grandeur of ziggurats clearly show high concentrations of wealth and powers to such leaders.

Once the urban civilizations were born, they developed rapidly. In less than 1,000 years after the first city emerged, empires were established, repeating expeditions and conquests among them in the new era of history. The ancient civilization of Mesopotamia, which saw the rise and fall of such urban nations as Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia, continued until conquered by Alexander the Great in 330 B.C., roughly when the Jomon period ended in Japan.

Western Asia and Jomon

What was going on in the Jomon period? In the context of the three development steps seen in the ancient Western Asia, there are clear evidences that sedentism existed in the Jomon period. Though there are some indications that farming existed, there is not even a faint mark of city existed in that period.

Ph.3 Grinding slab and hand stone, Telul eth-Thalathat, 6000BP, Iraq

Sedentism is generally believed to have emerged in or after the Initial Jomon period. It was about the time when the development of foods began, using vegetables, mainly nuts, and various marine resources. The Jomon culture at this stage is comparable to the Natufian culture in Western Asia, both being the culture of sedentary hunter-gathers despite the difference in the menu of food materials. On farming, there are evidences that chestnut trees were planted in a controlled manner, and that small-scale farming of perillas, green peas, gourds, etc., were being made. Rice farming is assumed to have existed in some areas. But the Jomon farming was part of the nature-exploitation system combined with gathering, hunting and fishing, and differed widely from the farming in Western Asia, which was almost the sole base to sustain life. The farming comparable to that in the Neolithic Western Asia began only in the Yayoi period. No city emerged in the Jomon period. Relatively large villages emerged in and after the Early Jomon period, as seen in the San-nai Maruyama archaeological site. However, urban civilizations of hierarchical social system and full-time division of labor, which had the population of several thousands and more, as seen in Western Asia, had not developed in Japan.

The cultures of both areas were similar up to the transition from mobile gathering and hunting to the sedentary gathering/hunting, by the end of the Pleistocene epoch. The Natufian culture is occasionally made the subject of comparative study with the Jomon culture in that both realized sedentism without using farming. However, the Natufian society later developed into an entirely different one after experiencing several drastic changes. On the other hand, however, the Jomon society basically remained a sedentary gatherer/hunter society for long, with changes occurring and progressing gradually. It is worth thinking why such different directions were chosen, not which way was more advanced.

Though the cultures in both areas went different ways, they both underwent drastic changes at about the same time. The sedentism and farming began in Western Asia just around the time when the Incipient and Initial Jomon period began respectively. Cities emerged in Western Asia in the Early Jomon period, when the Jomon culture attained its typical features. This may not be a casual coincidence, because each of the drastic changes in Western Asia coincided with the occurrence of severe climate changes. An assumption that such climate changes were of global scale, may lead to an assumption that some impact was felt on the Jomon society, but it is not the subject of this review. The purpose here is to briefly describe the relationship between the climate changes and the process of change in the culture of Western Asia.

It is assumed that the sedentary lifestyle began in Western Asia triggered by the turn to arid, frigid climate in the Oldest Dryas period that lasted for several hundred years from about 13,000 years ago. Earlier, when the climate turned warmer and more humid at the end of the Pleistocene, the hunter-gatherers of the Epi-Palaeolithic period spread into wide areas including the inland steppes. However, when the climate became arid and frigid as mentioned earlier, they concentrated into the Dead Sea Valley areas, where forest survived in a relatively humid climate. It is assumed that the increasing stress among the concentrated people about the resources led to the emergence of the new lifestyle, i.e. the village system based on the intensive use and storage of cereals and sedentism.

Farming is known as a phenomenon that began closely related to climate changes. Triggered by the return of cold climate in the Younger Dryas period from about 10,800 years ago, the Natufian society changed. Natufian people, with populace increased again in the warm period following the Oldest Dryas period, once again gathered to the Dead Sea valley areas when the cold climate returned. They are assumed to have chosen the intensive farming of cereals to use limited resources effectively. They planted wild barley that were growing naturally on the low land in the trough areas. Farming spread to all areas of Western Asia in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period when a humid climate returned.

Ph.6 Ziggurat, Nimrud, 900-600BC, Iraq

Though the background to the emergence of an urban society is complex, one sure reason is that the concentration of populace, the basic requirement of a city, centered around a temple. It can be interpreted as a result of the devotion to the grain farming by the people in South Mesopotamia and their reaction to the increasing aridity following the Climatic Optimum Period. The temple had existed before a city was born. The temple at that time is assumed to have had also the function to gather and store foods while it was a symbol of spiritual unity of the community. Food production was the only way to support the livelihood of the villagers who advanced to South Mesopotamia where wild food was extremely scarce. It can be readily imagined that cereals were stored at, or dedicated to the god of, a temple to prepare for famines, and there came to exist individuals to control the cereals. With their powers secularized over time, these individuals created a new society, probably changing the dedication into taxation. Letters were originally used as tools to record inputs and outputs to and from shrines.

The foregoing is only a simplified explanation. No explanation of history will be satisfactory unless various matters, such as historical and technical background and conditions of the people, their relationship with neighboring communities and cultural properties, are taken into consideration. However, natural environment was certainly an important factor that brought changes to cultures. There is no meaning in simply stressing that natural changes coincided with cultural changes, because nature can change at any time, wildly or mildly. It is important to focus on the substance and mechanism of the cultural reactions and the social backgrounds which required them.

Diversity characterizes the nature in Western Asia. There are sea, mountains, damp grounds, plains, great rivers and deserts. Though the Japanese Archipelago is also said to contain diverse resources, a distinctive difference between the two regions lies in how the resources are distributed. Whereas both land and marine resources were easily accessible without moving around much by residents in the Japanese Archipelago, the nature of resources abruptly changed from area to area in Western Asia. In brief, each element of environmental "mosaic" was much larger than in Japan. Resources were monotonous in a small area. Floras and faunas, which are scarcer than in Japan, depend on well-balanced rainfalls for their survival. There is always a possibility that a slight climatic change brings drastic change to the quality of resources in a short time. It was exactly such environment that made it necessary to compete with others to secure the resources in the damp areas in arid years. Provisions and preparations for famines were indispensable in South Mesopotamia where the farming of irrigated land was the only means for survival.

Archaeologists of Western Asia are looking forward with great interest to the account of the mechanism with which the Jomon people changed its society just about the time when their counterparts in Western Asia underwent great changes, despite distinctive differences in environment and ways of life.

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