A Preliminary Study of Jomon Period Deep Bowls with Anthropomorphic Decorations (II)

Abstract

In 1994, in the inaugural issue of this journal, the authors published a compilation of anthropomorphically decorated deep bowl-shaped vessels, the shape that forms the mainstream of Jomon pottery bearing human faces and figurines, and presented the results of basic research on their classification, distribution, function, and so forth. We have subsequently made examinations of vessels bearing handles for suspension, censer-shaped vessels, spouted vessels, and vessels of related shapes, clarifying the various concepts held by people of the Jomon period regarding death and rebirth, and as it has become definite that the chronological and regional spheres of these items are all subsumed by those of the deep bowl-shaped vessels, we believe it necessary to conduct basic research on the distribution of deep bowl-shaped vessels in constant fashion, and have therefore compiled the materials which have accumulated over the past five years.
Whereas we reported 443 examples of anthropomorphically decorated vessels in 1994, the current contribution presents 601 items, representing an increase of approximately 36 percent. There is no change observed in the distribution, however, ranging from the southwestern part of Hokkaido to Gifu Prefecture, verifying that the broad-leaf deciduous forest belt, for which the change of seasons is most pronounced, stands as a background factor. Within this area, high increases in the number of examples are observed for Yamanashi and Fukushima Prefectures; for the former this well illustrates its position as the center of distribution of Type IV examples, during the period of greatest fluorescence. Also, the latter clearly shows, along with data for its neighboring areas, that it is not only the Chubu region, which has generally been thought of in this regard, which forms the sphere of distribution of anthropomorphically decorated deep bowl-shaped vessels.
In chronological terms as well, there was no change in the development of the classic Type IV in the first half of the Middle Jomon period, but with the increase in examples from the Early Jomon, which had formerly been sporadic, the view that handles bearing animal faces evolved into handles with human faces has become difficult to sustain. Further, among these items there are examples which are significant in functional terms as well, bearing signs of having been placed inside the hearth on a daily basis for use as pedestals. Examples have also increased for the Late and Final Jomon periods, making the continuity with anthropomorphically decorated deep bowl-shaped and vase-shaped vessels from the Yayoi period a step clearer.
In morphological terms, foot-shaped decorative handles are seen from Niigata and Fukushima to Aomori Prefectures, and moreover an example has been recovered from Fukushima Prefecture in which this element appears as part of a set with a handle bearing a human face, showing more clearly the aspect of food being borne from the body of a female deity.