Where did they go fishing? A multi-scalar spatial analysis of Jomon fishing activities in the Tokyo-Yokohama district,east Japan

This paper examines the spatial patterns of prehistoric net fishing carried out by the Jomon hunter-gatherers in Japan. It is a case study of a multi-scalar approach using a Geographical Information System (GIS) analyzing a large archaeological dataset. In the Tokyo-Yokohama district (1500 km2 in area) of East Japan, 235 out of approximately 4000 Jomon sites have yielded a total of 3800 stone/clay sinkers, as a primary evidence of net fishing. GIS is employed for cataloguing this massive dataset and illustrating a series of sinker distribution maps in different scales – household (micro), settlement/occupation (semimicro), site-catchment (semi-macro), and regional (macro) levels. A holistic interpretation of the archaeological patterns obtained from the analytical maps provides a better understanding of the diachronic changes, local variations, and possible venues of Jomon net fishing activities