2001 Volume 10 Issue 1 Pages 17-32
Plant macroremains of the Early Jomon Period obtained from the Ireibaru C Site at Chatan Cho, Okinawa, were described. In the Early Jomon horizon, plant macroremains composed middens with sea shells, bone tools, and Sobata-type potteries. We could identify 56 taxa with 17 unkown taxa. Fruits of Fagaceous trees, probably Castanopsis, and Pandanus odoratissimus were abundant. Morus, Broussonetia papyrifera, Mallotus, Elaeocarpus sylvestris, Styrax japonicus, Ehretia, Scirpus, Najas, and Melothria were relatively common. Dominance of Fagaceous fruits in the plant macroremain assemblage of this site seemed to imply selective dumping of these fruits at this site. Results of this site and the Mehbaru Site of the Late Jomon Period indicated that Fagaceous fruits were possibly important food resources also in Okinawa Island as in the mainland Japan during the Jomon Period.
