This study is concerned with the patterns of exploitation of aquatic resources of the prehistoric Jomon hunter-gatherers in Japan. The study has two objectives. First, it will examine the habits of the shell-midden people when collecting aquatic resources. Second, the analysis will be concerned with the identification of the aquatic species from the shell midden, which is the most fundamental data in the preparation of the shell-midden analysis.
The material used for this study was collected from the Jomon shell midden at Kamitakatsu in Ibaraki Prefecture of the Kanto district. The midden was excavated several times, revealing the late Jomon deposit of ca. 4, 000 to 3, 000 B.P. The kinds and relative quantities of the aquatic species found at the midden deposit provided that the brackish-water environments were formed in the site territory during the Jomon period. The majority of the aquatic faunal remains were identified as species that the brackish-water environments of tidal to sublittoral zones in bays. In addition, some oceanic species were identified. Occurrence of these species, although the frequencies are very low, may give certain evidences that they might be caught incidentally on long trading journeys and so on, if the open sea lay beyond a reasonable walking or canoeing distance from the site.