Abstract
This paper overviews the study trends on legume cultivation in the East Asian archaeology. In East Asia, cultivation of legumes, such as species of Glycine and Vigna subgen. Ceratotropis, seems to have begun in multiple regions in the middle latitude area, including China, Korea, and Japan, ca. 7000-6000 years ago. Enlargement of the seed size is one feature of the domestication syndrome that demonstrates cultivation. Because cultivation without the enlargement of the seed sie is argued, several approaches are tried to demonstrate the cultivation of legumes. Now, the studies mainly focus on the beginning of cultivation rather than the proof of its existence. An increase in the study of pottery impressions has significantly contributed to clarifying the utilization history of legumes in prehistoric Japan. Pottery impressions of legume seeds not only allowed more critical argument about the enlargement of the seed size with more correct dating, but also identified legumes as synanthropic plants in prehistoric times. Moreover, the difference in species embedded in the pottery between Chinese and Korean Neolithic and Jomon in Japan indicated the existence of an original plant cultivation system in Jomon, that includes no cereal plants, but places legumes as one of the staple plant foods.
