Elsevier

Quaternary International

Volume 248, 18 January 2012, Pages 22-31
Quaternary International

Paleolithic cultures of MIS 3 to MIS 1 in relation to climate changes in the central Japanese islands

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2011.02.016Get rights and content

Abstract

The pattern of latest Pleistocene climate changes reconstructed on the basis of sediment cores from Lake Nojiri is one of the most detailed and reliable reconstructions in Japan. The climate changes over the last 72 ka can be compared directly with those recorded at Upper Paleolithic and Incipient Jomon sites on the basis of a revised age model for the Lake Nojiri sediment cores and the revised 14C dates, calibrated after IntCal09. Fossil bones of megafauna from the Tategahana site beside the lake have been placed ca. 53–37 ka cal BP, in the relatively warm, temperate climate of the early MIS 3. Part of the Tategahana site was interpreted as a kill and butchery site, although the presence of the “big game hunters” is still uncertain, as so far there is no reliable archaeological evidence in the Japanese archipelago dating back to the Middle Paleolithic. The number of Paleolithic sites increased suddenly after 38 ka cal BP around Lake Nojiri. This seems to coincide with the timing of the migration of Homo sapiens into the Japanese archipelago. The climate had been gradually cooling toward the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). However, the area around Lake Nojiri in the late MIS 3 seems to have been a suitable place for the subsistence of hunter-gatherers. Backed blade industries (ca. 29–20 ka cal BP), point-tool industries (ca. 22–19 ka cal BP), and microblade industries (20–16 ka cal BP) were characteristic of the Late Upper Paleolithic. The number of sites around Lake Nojiri decreased significantly during the LGM. At the end of the LGM, an abrupt change of vegetation, from subarctic conifer forest to deciduous broadleaf forest, had occurred around 14 ka, and human activities became prominent around Lake Nojiri, as shown by the linear-relief pottery group (ca. 15–13 ka cal BP). The number of sites seems to have decreased slightly during the Younger Dyras cooling event. Patterns of human occupation around Lake Nojiri show the influence of global and local climate changes.

Introduction

A wide highland at an altitude of 700–800 m forms the northeastern margin of the Japanese Alps, and many Paleolithic sites have been found on the plateau where Lake Nojiri is located. The archaeological sites around Lake Nojiri range in age from the Upper Paleolithic to the Earliest Jomon, and a continuous series of lithic cultures can be identified there. In particular, abundant mammal fossils such as Paleoloxodon naumanni have been excavated at the western shore of Lake Nojiri, at the Tategahana site (Nojiri-ko Excavation Research Group, 1997). The occurrence of mammal fossils is very rare in Paleolithic sites in Japan due to the acidic volcanic soil. Therefore, the Tategahana site is an attractive site to archaeologists in Japan, although there is controversy regarding the authenticity of the lithic instruments found with the mammal fossils.

The Paleolithic sites around Lake Nojiri are situated on the northwestern extension of a series of the Paleolithic sites that are distributed from the Kanto district to this area through the Yatsugatake area (Fig. 1). Additionally, some of the Lake Nojiri Paleolithic sites have features in common with those in the Tohoku or Hokuriku districts. Therefore, the area around Lake Nojiri might have been an important area for people migrating from the Japan Sea side to the inland area and the Pacific side, or vice versa.

Lake Nojiri is a deep lake where thick continuous sediments dating back to 72 ka have been confirmed by acoustic surveys and scientific drilling (Acoustic Research Subgroup for Nojiri-ko Excavation, 1987, Kumon and Iniouchi, 1990). From the analyses of the drilled sediment cores, high-resolution proxies of paleoclimate have been revealed for the past 72 ka (Kumon et al., 2003, Kumon et al., in press, Kumon et al., 2009, Takahara et al., 2010). Pollen analysis taken at 80 year intervals on average have clarified drastic vegetation changes, as the lake is situated near the vegetation boundary between the cool-temperate deciduous broadleaf trees and subarctic conifer trees of the ice ages. The total organic carbon content in the sediments can also provide a temperature proxy at 30–60 year intervals. Additionally, widespread marker tephra layers such as Kikai-Akahoya (K-Ah) and Aira-Tn (AT) tephra identified in the sediment cores can provide a powerful tool for precise correlation of the stratigraphic situation as well as of the archaeological cultures.

Following the recent revision of the 14C calibration curve (IntCal09, Reimer et al., 2009), the authors checked and calibrated the 14C dates older than 26 ka reported earlier. In the present study, the authors also checked the key ages for the age model and established an age model for the NJ88 core revised from Kumon et al. (2009). Climate proxies such as pollen composition and total organic carbon content were compiled on the basis of the new age model, and the stratigraphic relation and ages of the archaeological sites around Lake Nojiri were rearranged on the basis of temporal climate changes. The results are also correlated with the Paleolithic archaeological sites from Kyushu to Tohoku districts in the context of widespread marker tephra beds and 14C dates. As a result, temporal changes from the Upper Paleolithic to the Incipient Jomon culture were revealed in relation to the climate change from MIS 3 to MIS 2 in the main Japanese islands. The purpose of this study is to offer a trial framework to reconstruct the comprehensive history of the Upper Paleolithic period in the Japanese islands.

Section snippets

Geographical setting of Lake Nojiri and surrounding highlands

Lake Nojiri is located at the northwestern margin of the Japanese Alps (N36°49.5′, E138°13.23′), at an altitude of 657 m (Fig. 1, Fig. 2). The annual average temperature is 7.9–10.1 °C (9.0 °C on average) and the annual precipitation is 871–1676 mm (1254 mm on average), recorded at the Shinanomachi meteorological station (N36°48.5′, E138°11.9′: altitude 685 m) a few km south of the lake, during the 26 years from AD 1979–2004. The natural potential vegetation around Lake Nojiri at present is

Lake sediment and sediment age

The lake drilling reached the basement. The sediment core (NJ88 core) of 44.16 m was described in detail by Kumon and Inouchi (1990). The lower one-fourth of the sediment is peat, and the remaining part is lake sediment composed of homogenous silty clay associated with many thin layers of tephra. The keys used for age determination, such as marker tephra, 14C dates, and climate events, are listed in Table 1, and an age model for the NJ88 core is shown in Fig. 3. Six anchor points provide

Pollen assemblage zones and fluctuation of TOC and TN content

Detailed pollen analyses were performed in 80-year intervals on average, and NP-1 to NP-8 assemblage zones from the top to the base were identified for the last 72 ka (Fig. 4). The upper zones, the NP-4 to NP-2 zones, correspond to the Upper Paleolithic and the earliest Jomon in Japan. The NP-4 assemblage indicates mixed forests of deciduous broadleaf trees and subarctic conifer trees which correspond to an intermediate temperature, although frequent changes in their ratio were found in short

Archaeological chronology in relation to climate change

Archaeological chronology during the Upper Paleolithic and Incipient Jomon around the Lake Nojiri area is summarized in Fig. 6 (Tani, 2007). To show the general outline of the history from MIS 3 to MIS 2/MIS 1 boundary, climate changes are roughly divided into four stages: Early MIS 3, Late MIS 3, MIS 2 and MIS 2/MIS 1 boundary (Kudo, 2010). Three kinds of data are used as proxies for environmental change (Fig. 7): the Greenland NGRIP ice core δ18O data (North Greenland Ice Core Project

Conclusions

Paleoclimatic data were deduced from proxies of sediment cores in Lake Nojiri and the culture transition of the Upper Paleolithic and the Incipient Jomon, on the basis of a revised age model of the sediment core and the renewed 14C dates calibrated after IntCal09. The Upper Paleolithic culture and climate changes during 50–10 ka can be divided into four stages corresponding to the early MIS 3, late MIS 3, major MIS 2 and MIS 2/1 boundary.

Early MIS 3: fossil bones of the megafauna at the

Acknowledgments

We are indebted to Dr. Sayuri Kawai of Institute of Mountain Sciences, Shinshu Univ., for her pollen data from the Lake Nojiri, and Prof. Yoshio Inouchi of the Department Human Behavior and Environmental Sciences, Waseda Univ. for sampling and use of the NJ88 sediment core. We are also grateful to Prof. Akira Ono of the Obsidian Center, Meiji Univ. for useful suggestions for the previous version of the paper. We take full responsibility for the ideas described here and any errors that may be

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