Research on the pre- and protohistoric culture between Japan and the Ryūkyū islands
The project is lead by Hiroto TAKAMIYA from Kagoshima University, Japan and studies a culture between two very distinct cultures in Japanese Proto- and Early history: The progressively emerging culture on the Japanese island of Kyūshū in the north, and the culture on the Ryūkyū islands. Inbetween, on the Ōsumi islands and Tanegashima in particular, both cultures met and formed what the project calls the “blurry culture” or, in Japanese, bokashi no bunka.
In the course of the project, an shellmound on the island of Tanegashima will be excavated and analyses performed particularly on subsistence patterns and exchange with the regions in the north and in the south. I am responsible for choosing meaningful samples for Neutron Activation Analyses of sherds, which will be performed by J. Sterba at the Atominstitut, TU Wien.
This is a preliminary introduction and shall be completed and updated in the course of the ongoing project.