Abstract
To reconstruct the distribution of vegetation and use of plant resources at the Torihama shell midden site, Fukui, Japan, from the incipient to early Jomon periods, analyses of fossil pollen and plant macrofossils were carried out together with radiocarbon dating. We identified six vegetation stages from the composition of arboreal pollen assemblages and radiocarbon dates: forests of Lepidobalanus and Fagus (ca. 14,000–13,200 cal BP), Fagus forests with Cryptomeria trees (ca. 11,600 cal BP), Lepidobalanus forests with abundant Castanea trees (ca. 11,500–8700 cal BP), Cryptomeria forests with an increase in Celtis–Aphanathe trees (ca. 8700–7100 cal BP), an increase in Cyclobalanopsis trees (ca. 7100–5700 cal BP), and dominance of Castanae trees (after ca. 5700 cal BP). Use of Castanea crenata appears to have started in the incipient Jomon period. In this period, C. crenata trees appear to have grown abundantly within Lepidobalanus forests on a nearby hill and were probably maintained artificially. During the incipient Jomon period, Toxicodendron vernicifluum and Cannabis sativa had grown around this site since ca.13,200 cal BP and ca. 10,500 cal BP, respectively. Throughout the incipient to early Jomon periods, an increasing number of taxa appear to have been used as plant resources around this site.
