The Distribution of Charcoal in Preceramic Period Sites
A New Approach to Preceramic Research
1978 Volume 17 Issue 3 Pages 125-141
Details
1978 Volume 17 Issue 3 Pages 125-141
Small flecks of charcoal are often found in the soil of Preceramic period sites, and their presence has been noted in numerous site reports since the first Preceramic excavation at Iwajuku in 1949.
Dot maps of the distribution of these charcoal flecks were first made during excavations at the Nakazanya site in Tokyo in 1974, and later at the nearby Maehara, Takaido Higashi and Suzuki sites. The entire surface of one Preceramic layer was dot-mapped at Nakazanya; a number of clusters of charcoal flecks were apparent in the finished drawings. More refined data, including a cross-sectional plan of one of the clusters, were collected for several cultural layers across the whole 3, 000m2 excavated at Maehara in 1975. Similar work was done at Suzuki from 1974, but the most detailed study was made at the Takaido Higashi site in 1976.
Some of the charcoal concentrates around heaps of burned gravel, while some is found with other kinds of artifacts. Many clusters of charcoal are found apart from any human habitation remains, and sometimes most of the clusters are in strata with only a very few artifacts.
Several possible explanations can be offered for these patterns of distribution. The charred plant fragments might represent natural agents such as forest fires-all of the fragments identified so far have been wood. However, charcoal has been found only near human settlement sites: an excavation at the ICU campus in Tokyo in 1977, at a location some distance from the nearest known site, produced neither charcoal flecks nor artifacts. On the other hand, if this charcoal results from human behavior, there is not yet any evidence to suggest the kind of activity involved; the charcoal could reflect anything from a cooking fire to an accidental brush fire in the camp.
The natural science approach to the study of large carbonized remains-floral typing and radiocarbon dating-has yielded much valuable information about prehistoric sites. An archaeological approach to the study of small carbonized remains-dot-mapping their distribution-might eventually advance the anthropological understanding of the human past. The study of micro charred remains warrants as much attention as any other single aspect of archaeological research.
