Recent archaeological findings suggest that the transition from hunting and gathering societies to farming societies was a slow process. Although our understanding of such a transitional phase has been deepened, the lack of a category for such a transitional phase causes many discussions about whether a certain society that clearly shows the characteristics of a transitional phase is of a hunting and gathering or a farming society. This paper suggests a new category for such societies, which is expected to allow more precise description of the cultural continuity and complexity of these societies. This paper also discusses the cultural characteristics of the society present some 5 thousand years ago at the Sannai Maruyama site in Aomori, Japan, to demonstrate how this new category may help us better understand the findings at the site.
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