【简译】绳纹时代（Jomon Period）

The Jomon Period is the earliest historical era of Japanese history which began around 14500 BCE, coinciding with the Neolithic Period in Europe and Asia, and ended around 300 BCE when the Yayoi Period began. The name Jomon, meaning 'cord marked' or 'patterned', comes from the style of pottery made during that time. Although the entire period is called Jomon, various phases can be identified based on the style and intended use of the pottery.

          绳纹时代是日本历史上最早的历史时代，约始于公元前14500年，与欧洲和亚洲的新石器时代相吻合，并在公元前300年左右结束，即弥生时代开始。绳纹这个名字，意思是“标记”或“用绳子盖上”，来自于那个时期制作的陶器风格。尽管整个时期都被称为绳纹，但根据陶器的风格和预期用途，可以确定不同的阶段。

定居与生活

The people that came to what would be known today as Japan first did so near the end of the last glacial period, or Ice Age, most likely while following animal herds over land bridges formed during the glacial period. When the climate warmed and the land bridges disappeared, the soon-to-be Jomon people found themselves on an island. With the animal herds cut off from their homelands dying off, the Jomon people utilized hunting and gathering to fulfil their needs. Their diet has been found to consist of bears, boars, fish, shellfish, yams, wild grapes, walnuts, chestnuts, and acorns. Evidence of their diet was found inside middens, domestic waste disposal piles, and shell mounds that were found near villages.

          第一批到达我们今天所知道的日本的居民，最初是在最后一次冰河期或冰河时代末期到达的，大概是跟随成群的动物穿过冰河时期形成的陆桥。当气候变暖，陆桥消失时，那些后来成为绳纹人的原始人利用他们的狩猎采集技能来确保生计。随着被隔断的动物群从他们的故乡消失，绳纹人利用狩猎和采集来满足他们的生存需求。已知的食物包括熊、野猪、鱼、贝类、山药、野葡萄、核桃、栗子和橡子。他们的饮食证据是在村庄附近的粪坑、生活垃圾处理堆和贝壳堆中发现的。

Starting around 5000 BCE, the Jomon developed a more sedentary lifestyle settling into villages; the largest one at the time covered around 100 acres (c. 0.4 km²) and had about 500 people. Villages near the sea would have relied heavily on fishing while settlements further inland adopted a primarily hunting lifestyle. In many villages, what are assumed to be ceremonial stone platforms and storage pits have been found. The initial simple shelters of the villages would soon develop into pithouses built around a central fireplace, with a structure supported by pillars, accommodating around five people each. The Jomon people would settle in different areas depending on the changing climate; colder periods would require proximity to the sea as evidenced by much larger mounds of shells and fish bones found compared to warmer periods when the settlement pattern shows a shift to further inland sites in order to take advantage of the flourishing flora and fauna.

          大约从公元前5000年开始，绳纹人发展了一种更加固定的生活方式，定居在村庄里；当时最大的村庄占地约100英亩（约0.4平方公里），约有500人。靠近大海的村庄主要依靠渔业，而在内陆的村庄则主要采用狩猎的生活方式。在许多村庄里，已经发现了被认为是仪式用的石台和储藏坑。村庄最初的简单住所很快就发展成围绕中央壁炉建造的半掩埋石屋，其结构由支柱支撑，每个石屋可容纳约五人。绳文人会根据气候的变化在不同的地区定居；寒冷的时期需要靠近大海，这一点可以从发现的大贝壳和鱼骨堆中得到证明，而在温暖的时期，定居模式显示出向更远的内陆地区转移，以利用丰富的植物和动物资源。

Along with the change in habitation, the total population underwent significant fluctuation: by 5000 BCE the population would grow from 20,000 to 100,000, only to grow further to 200,000 by 3000 BCE before falling back to 100,000 by the end of the period. Although the Jomon people had a somewhat sedentary life, the agricultural revolution only came with the introduction of rice farming near the end of the Jomon Period. This was around 900 BCE when along with advanced metalworking techniques rice was brought to southwestern Japan from what is today Korea.

          伴随着居住环境的变化，总人口经历了重大的波动：到公元前5000年，人口可能从2万增长到10万，到公元前3000年进一步增长到20万，到该时期结束时又回落到10万。尽管绳纹人的生活有些固定，但农业革命只是在绳纹时期接近尾声时才引入水稻耕作。那是在公元前900年左右，水稻和先进的金属加工技术一起从今天的韩国传入日本西南部。

技     术

Jomon technology, for the most part, consists of basic stone and wooden tools such as knives and axes as well as bows and arrows, similar to Neolithic technology used in Europe and the rest of Asia. Alongside stone tools, various traps and snares also aided the Jomon people in hunting. Clothing was made from the bark of the mulberry tree, put together using bone needles, and the Jomon were also found to weave wicker baskets. Since at certain periods the Jomon people were settled near the ocean, fishing tools like harpoons and hooks were developed alongside the techniques to use them. Unlike Europe and the rest of Asia, agriculture was not practiced until much later, near the end of the period, so no tools for large-scale farming have been found until the Yayoi period. However, there is evidence of small-scale horticulture or gardening.

          大多数绳纹技术包括基本的石器和木制工具，如刀和斧头，以及弓和箭，类似于欧洲和亚洲其他地区掌握的新石器时代技术。除了石制工具外，各种陷阱和圈套也有助于绳纹人的狩猎活动。衣服是用桑树皮制作的，用骨针拼接而成，绳纹人还会编织柳条篮子。由于在某些时期，绳纹人在海洋附近定居，他们掌握了鱼叉和鱼钩等捕鱼工具以及使用它们的技术。与欧洲和亚洲其他地区不同的是，当地的农业直到很晚才开始发展，接近绳纹时代末期，所以直到弥生时期都没有发现大规模耕作的工具。然而，有证据表明，当时已经出现了小规模的园艺或耕作。

绳纹陶器

Jomon pottery was made by hand, without the use of a potter's wheel, by building up from the bottom coils of soft clay mixed with other materials such as fibers or crushed shells. Afterwards, the outside and inside of the pottery were smoothed out by tools and then fired in an outdoor bonfire. The remains of the Jomon pottery itself are the oldest pottery to be dated in the world, thousands of pieces of which have been found. The pottery used in the earliest part of the Jomon Period, the Incipient (14500 BCE - 5000 BCE), had rounded bottoms and were used to cook outside, steadied on top of a pile of stones or sand. The next form of pottery, used in the Early Jomon (5000 BCE - 3000 BCE), had flat bottoms and was increasingly intended for indoor use. In the Middle Jomon Period (3000 BCE - 1000 BCE), vessels were more elaborately decorated depicting flames or snakes among other things, and in the Late Jomon Period (1000 BCE - 300 BCE), the walls of the pottery became thinner and vessels had a wider array of uses.

          绳纹陶器是在不使用轮子的情况下，通过将混合有其他材料（例如纤维或碎壳）的粘土圆柱叠加在一起制成的。之后，用不同的器具将内部和外部打磨光滑，然后在室外的篝火中烧制。绳纹陶器是世界上可以确定的最古老的陶器之一，已发现数千件陶器。绳纹时代初期使用的陶器，或初期绳纹（公元前 14,500 年 - 公元前 5,000 年）底部是圆形的，用于户外做饭，陶器被稳稳地放在一堆石头或沙子上面。纹文早期（公元前5000年-公元前3000年）使用的陶器，有平底，越来越多地用于室内使用。在绳纹中期（公元前3000年-公元前1000年），器皿的装饰更加精细，上面描绘了火焰或蛇等，在绳纹晚期（公元前1000年-公元前300年），陶器内壁变薄，器皿的用途更加广泛。

仪式与信仰

The Jomon have been found to bury infants in large jars, adults inside pits and shell mounds near villages, and place ceremonial offerings and other ornaments in graves from the Middle to Late Jomon Periods. Starting sometime in the earlier Jomon phases the clay dogu figurines were made and intially started as flat images ranging in size from 3 to 30 centimeters. By the Middle Jomon phase the figurines became more widespread and numerous, and by the Late Jomon phase, the figurines acquired three-dimensional features. Many such figures depicted pregnant women in the hope of boosting fertility or they depicted regular people which were sometimes broken in the belief that any bad luck or illness would pass to the figurine and miss the living person it represented. A common practice for males entering puberty would be ritualistic teeth pulling for unknown reasons. In northern Japan, a number of stone circles have been found around villages dating to the Jomon Period, the purpose of which is not known but theorized to be for a plentiful hunt or fishing.

          考古学家发现，绳纹人会将死去的婴儿埋在大罐子里，将死去的成人埋在村庄附近的坑和贝冢里，并且在绳纹中期至晚期的坟墓中发现了祭品和其他装饰品。从早期绳纹时期的某个时候开始，人们创造了“土偶”，最初是扁平的形象，大小从3到30厘米不等。到了绳纹中期，“土偶”变得广泛；到了绳纹晚期，“土偶”初具三维特征。许多雕像描绘的是孕妇，人们希望以此能提高生育能力；还有描绘普通人的土陶偶，有时会被打破，因为人们相信任何坏运气或疾病都会传给雕像，而错过它所代表的活人。对进入青春期的男性来说，一个常见的做法是进行拔牙仪式，原因不明。在日本北部，人们在可以追溯到绳纹时代的村庄周围发现了一些石圈，其用途不详，但据推测是为了帮助狩猎或捕鱼。

向弥生时代的过渡

For most of the Jomon Period, Japan was isolated from the rest of Asia so the culture, society, and technology could be called more original and, arguably, more primitive since it could not gain access to the ideas and technology of other cultures. It was not until later phases of the period that evidence was found that indicated contact with the mainland such as similar pottery in Korea, and Kyushu, the southernmost island of Japan. The Jomon people would eventually learn rice growing and metalworking from Korea as well as come into contact with people who would mix with the natives in more southern region. They would become the modern Japanese people, although a small group would maintain a higher percentage of original Jomon DNA far to the north, on the island of Hokkaido.

          在绳纹时代的大部分时间里，日本与亚洲其他国家隔绝，因此其文化、社会和技术可以说是比较分化的，也可以说是比较原始的，因为它无法获得其他文化的思想和技术。直到这一时期的后期，才发现有证据表明与大陆的接触，如韩国和日本最南端的九州岛的类似陶器。绳纹人从韩国学习水稻种植和金属加工，并与更多南部地区的土著人接触。这些人后来成为现代日本人，尽管有一小部分人在北面的北海道岛上保持着较高比例的原始绳文DNA。

参考书目：

Collcutt M., Jansen M., Kumakura I. Cultural Atlas of Japan. Facts On File, 1988.

Henshall, K. A History of Japan. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

History - Jomon PeriodAccessed 1 Dec 2016.

Jomon Culture (ca. 10,500-ca. 300 BCE) Accessed 1 Dec 2016.

Jomon Culture - Ancient CultureAccessed 1 Dec 2016.

Tames, R. Traveller's History of Japan. Interlink Publishing Group, 2008.

原文网址：https://www.worldhistory.org/Jomon_Period/