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Living Dangerously : Archaeological Insights Into Jomon Engagement With Volcanic Geohazards In Prehistoric Japan

Uchiyama, Junzo LU and Jordan, Peter LU orcid (2025)
Abstract
Mount Fuji, the iconic mountain of Japan, remains a young and frequently active volcano. However, despite these dangers, people have continuously lived in the landscapes surrounding Mount Fuji since the peopling of the Japanese Archipelago, approximately 38ka. In this paper we explore the geological history of Mount Fuji and use a landscape archaeology approach to reconstruct how Jomon communities would have engaged with the “growing” mountain, both as a major geohazard that threatened daily existence, but also as an important topographic feature that would have dominated the horizon from all directions. Our contextual analysis of both general settlement patterns and the two large Jomon sites situated close to Mount Fuji generates... (More)
Mount Fuji, the iconic mountain of Japan, remains a young and frequently active volcano. However, despite these dangers, people have continuously lived in the landscapes surrounding Mount Fuji since the peopling of the Japanese Archipelago, approximately 38ka. In this paper we explore the geological history of Mount Fuji and use a landscape archaeology approach to reconstruct how Jomon communities would have engaged with the “growing” mountain, both as a major geohazard that threatened daily existence, but also as an important topographic feature that would have dominated the horizon from all directions. Our contextual analysis of both general settlement patterns and the two large Jomon sites situated close to Mount Fuji generates surprising insights. First, Jomon communities appear to have settled closer to Mount Fuji during times of heightened volcanic activity. Second, they established unique ritual sites - Ōshikakubo and Sengo - which formed nodal points in much larger interaction, exchange and aggregation networks. Third, these sites were the focus of rituals that made explicit reference to Mount Fuji in relation to major celestial events such as summer solstice. Overall, our preliminary research suggests that Jomon communities incorporated understandings of volcanic geohazards into their worldviews, and found way to “live dangerously” via negotiating appropriate relationships with powerful and landscape forces. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
in press
subject
keywords
Mount Fuji, Volcano, Disaster Studies, Jomon, Stone alignments, ritual landscapes
host publication
Current Archaeological Research in East Asia
editor
Kaner, Simon and Hudson, Mark
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
8ee6ac85-f26b-4167-8a9b-77987ef10b7f
date added to LUP
2025-01-31 13:43:36
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:20:44
@inbook{8ee6ac85-f26b-4167-8a9b-77987ef10b7f,
  abstract     = {{Mount Fuji, the iconic mountain of Japan, remains a young and frequently active volcano. However, despite these dangers, people have continuously lived in the landscapes surrounding Mount Fuji since the peopling of the Japanese Archipelago, approximately 38ka. In this paper we explore the geological history of Mount Fuji and use a landscape archaeology approach to reconstruct how Jomon communities would have engaged with the “growing” mountain, both as a major geohazard that threatened daily existence, but also as an important topographic feature that would have dominated the horizon from all directions. Our contextual analysis of both general settlement patterns and the two large Jomon sites situated close to Mount Fuji generates surprising insights. First, Jomon communities appear to have settled closer to Mount Fuji during times of heightened volcanic activity. Second, they established unique ritual sites - Ōshikakubo and Sengo - which formed nodal points in much larger interaction, exchange and aggregation networks. Third, these sites were the focus of rituals that made explicit reference to Mount Fuji in relation to major celestial events such as summer solstice. Overall, our preliminary research suggests that Jomon communities incorporated understandings of volcanic geohazards into their worldviews, and found way to “live dangerously” via negotiating appropriate relationships with powerful and landscape forces.}},
  author       = {{Uchiyama, Junzo and Jordan, Peter}},
  booktitle    = {{Current Archaeological Research in East Asia}},
  editor       = {{Kaner, Simon and Hudson, Mark}},
  keywords     = {{Mount Fuji; Volcano; Disaster Studies; Jomon; Stone alignments; ritual landscapes}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  title        = {{Living Dangerously : Archaeological Insights Into Jomon Engagement With Volcanic Geohazards In Prehistoric Japan}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}