Radiocarbon dating of fossil hemp fruits in the earliest Jomon period excavated from the Okinoshima site, Chiba, Japan

Abstract

Fruits of Cannabis sativa were found from the sediments of the earliest Jomon period at the Okinoshima site, Tateyama City, Chiba Prefecture, central Japan. The authors conducted AMS 14C dating of the Cannabis sativa fruits themselves. The obtained date was 8955 ± 45 14C BP, and the calibrated date is ca. 10,000 cal BP. Thus the fruits of Cannabis sativa excavated from the Okinoshima site can be certainly placed at the Yoriitomon pottery phase of the earliest Jomon period, which coincides with the early Holocene. It is the oldest record of the fruits of Cannabis sativa in the world at this moment. Hemp may have been cultivated and utilized from the earliest Jomon period.