Abstract
In prehistoric societies, pottery production often mirrored changes in sociocultural landscapes, with shifts in production organization and specialization reflected in the shapes of artifacts. Modern computational and digital methods in archaeology allow us to analyze these shape variations quantitatively, providing insights into production organization in prehistoric contexts. This study utilizes geometric morphometric analysis to investigate changes in pottery production of cooking pots during the Initial ~ Early Yayoi period (~900/800 BC–300 BC) in Japan, a pivotal era marking the transition toward an agricultural society. As wet-rice farming spread across the Hakata Bay region, population growth led to significant social transformations, including the development of social hierarchies. Results show a clear trend toward reduced variability in vessel shapes, suggesting a shift to more structured production practices and heightened standardization. Differences in standardization between cooking jars and mortuary vessels highlight the impact of function and rate of production on craft specialization. These findings contribute to our understanding of how demographic and social changes influenced production organization in prehistoric Japan, providing a model for analyzing production organization across different contexts and periods.
