Jomon pottery

Where does the oldest pottery in the world come from?

No, not from the Near East, nor indeed from the Middle East. It comes from Japan.

It has long been known that the Jomon pottery of Japan goes back a very long way. (Jomon means Twisted cord, so this is the pottery made with twisted cord decoration.

Recently however pottery has been found that dates back to 13,000 years ago, which, if you use the latest radiocarbon calibration, gives a date of 16,000 years ago. (or 14,000 BC).

This pottery comes from a site known as Odai Yamomoto, in the north of Honshu, the main island of Japan. Some 46 potsherds were found, all from the same vessel. Some of them had carbonised material on the surface indicating that it had been used from boiling, and it was from these inclusions that some of the radiocarbon dates sere obtained.

The site was not only notable for its very early pottery, but also because two arrowheads made of shale were found in the same layer, suggesting that not only did they use pottery, but that bow and arrow hunting had been invented, many thousands of years earlier than is known anywhere else in the world. One of the arrowheads is here seen to the right

Early pottery has also been found in Russia, in the far eastern end, in the Vladivostok region. At the height of the Ice age, the sea levels would have been much lower, and the northern island of Japan may have been joined to the mainland of Asia at this time. Early pottery has also been reported from sites in China.         This map shows the position of Odai Yamamoto at the extreme northen end of the main island of Japan, and also the Amur river sites in Russia which have also produced pottery made in the coldest part of the last Ice Age

The Jomon pottery culture not only begins early, but it continues till well down into the first millennium BC, for the Bronze Age did not begin till very late in Japan. Thus the majority of Jomon pottery is of the third and second millennia BC, when it achieved numerous exotic forms. Jomon means twisted cord in Japanese, and the main characteristic is the twisted cord decoration. Many of these vessels form fine displays in museums round the world.

Home

Created: 26th November 2001