Structure, Simbolism, and Attributions of the Ritual Complexes During the Jōmon Period on the Japanese Archipelago

Stone Age art of the Japanese Archipelago is tightly connected with the variety of ritual features dated by the Final Paleolithic – Jōmon periods (14–2,300 BP). By their scale they could be divided into “macrocomplexes”(rings of stone, mounds, shell-mounds), and “micro-complexes” (sets of artifacts within the dwellings, burials, and caches). In its turn, within macro-complexes (Hokkaido and Honshu Islands) there are structures with horizontal and vertical orientation; they are accompanied by numerous finds of clay figurines, fragments of vessels with anthropomorphic and zoomorphic symbols, and adornments of soft stones. Stone mazes (“sekibō”) are of special value: their sizes vary from several centimeters to 2,5 meters; they were found both in micro- and macro-complexes. In spite of the acidic soils which used to destroy the organics, multiple traces of pits and variety of wood-working tools allow suggesting that vertical megaliths were accompanied and even antedated by the series of wooden constructions. Japanese materials, from one side, fit well with the Eurasian context of vertical megaliths and wooden idols, and, from the other, correlate with the ancient cultures of the Pacific basin (Southeast Asia, Oceania, North- and South American coasts) with long-term traditions of stone and wooden totem poles with level-type representation of symbols and mythological personages.