Introduction

Among the stone tools belonging to the first half of the late Paleolithic of Japan, there are axes with a polished blade. They were first discovered during archaeological excavations at the Iwajuku site in 1949. After that, Paleolithic tools in Japan began to be found everywhere, and therefore the number of stone axes with a polished blade increased. According to traditional ideas, the presence or absence of such items marks the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods. The discovery of tools with a polished blade in a Paleolithic context has led a number of archaeologists to suggest that the culture in which they are represented can be defined as non-ceramic Neolithic. However, as it was established during the determination of the age of artifacts, all such items date back to the first half of the Late Paleolithic. This raises the question: can stone tools with polished blades from the early Late Paleolithic period be considered a purely Japanese phenomenon, or are they part of a broader Eurasian cultural phenomenon? At present, it is not possible to cover and analyze all the information contained in publications on Eurasia. It is hoped that this modest work, which gives an idea of the Late Paleolithic finds in Japan, will in some way prove useful to researchers from the mainland.

About stone axes with a polished blade

These products are also called partially ground axes, in contrast to those tools that have been ground on the entire surface. Such items were typical of the stone tools of the first half of the Late Paleolithic of Japan and the entire Early Neolithic period from the Sosoka stage of the Jomon Era. However, axes with a polished blade in the Late Paleolithic and similar products in the Neolithic differed significantly in their morphology. Among the Late Paleolithic tools, there are many products with a slightly polished one side of the blade, while in the Neolithic the blade is carefully polished on both sides (it resembles the edge of a hamaguri shell). Among the Neolithic axes, there are specimens with fragments of pebble crust.

Geochronologically, the first and second halves of the Late Paleolithic in Japan are separated by a layer of tephra AT (ash from the Aira-Tanzawa volcano). Knife-shaped tools and stone axes predominate in the archaeological complexes of the pre-ash accumulation period, while the collections of strata corresponding to the time after the eruption of the Aira-Tanzawa volcano are the most numerous in terms of points, incisors and various types of scrapers; knife-shaped products are found in much smaller numbers than in earlier complexes; in addition, there is a clear miniaturization of tools. After a period of volcanic ash layer formation axes

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with a polished blade, they completely disappear. This can be explained by a radical change in the hunting object in the Paleolithic society due to the sharply changed natural and climatic conditions, which is confirmed by the results of pollen analysis performed recently in different regions. The following examples of axes with a polished blade (see table) are limited only to the Late Paleolithic period.

Iwajuku Parking Lot is located in Gunma Prefecture. Discovered by Aizawa Tadahiro in 1946. Archaeological excavations conducted there in 1949 showed that this is the first archaeological site in Japan dating back to the Paleolithic era: axes with a polished blade, knife-shaped and other tools were found. There were no stone axes in the upper layer. Subsequent excavations (Aizawa Tadahiro and Sekiya Akira, 1988) revealed the following features in the lower layer:-

Axes with polished blades from the Kanto region

Parking lot

N n/a

Raw material

Length, cm

Width, cm

Thickness, cm

Weight, g

Notes

Literature

Iwajuku

1

Oil shale

9,50

5,50

2,30

159,00

-

Sugihara Sosuke, 1956

2

"

10,00

6,80

2,80

281,00

-

In the same place

3

"

10,90

5,90

2,30

184,50

Material by Aizawa Tadahiro

Aizawa

Tadahiro,

Sekiya Akira,

1988

Suzuki

1

Andesite

8,85

5,20

1,15

87,50

-

Tateno Takashi, 1980

2

Slate shale

8,45

4,75

2,45

111,50

-

In the same place

3

Sandstone

10,19

6,68

2,60

210,30

There is a plate that was removed when the damaged working part of the product was reissued

"

4

Sericite shale

1,31

3,89

0,51

(3,30)

Broken edge of the blade

"

Shimo-fureu-sifuse

1

Chlorite shale

"

"

"

105,68

The reverse side is also polished (sanding from both planes?), the plate is not processed

Iwasaki Taiichi, 1986

2

The same thing

-

-

-

40,25

The same thing

In the same place

3

Siltstone

-

-

-

46,00 ± ± 101,43

The edge of the blade and the base are broken off

"

4

Slate Slate

-

-

-

145,98

-

"

5

Andesite

-

-

-

41,48

-

"

6

Black Slate

-

-

-

(4,88)

Product with a missing blade

"

7

Chlorite shale

-

-

-

172,90

Four repairable items

"

8 - 10

There are plates that were removed when the damaged working part of the product was reissued

"

Musashi-dai

1

Obsidian

-

-

-

-

Layer X-a, a single-bladed axe

Yokoyama Yuuhei, 1984

2

Sandstone

-

-

-

-

Layer X-b, sanding on both sides (and in the middle part of the abdomen)

In the same place

3

-

-

-

-

-

Layer X-b, fragmented blade

"

4

Sandstone

-

-

-

-

Layer X-b, the product to be repaired

"

5

-

-

-

-

-

The same thing

"

6

-

-

-

-

-

"

"

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there is only one gun with a polished blade and several pebble choppers.

Two stone axes from the 1949 excavations were made from massive flakes. In publications, they are called hand choppers. The low quality of grinding is striking (Sugihara Sosuke, 1956). The tools are made of clay shale; the surface is noticeably weathered. A stone axe made from Aizawa Tadahiro materials has obvious grinding marks in the middle part of the body on both sides and near the blade. These three axes with a polished blade, extracted from the AT layer and from the black Akagi-kanuma pumice layer (Ag-KP. ca. 32 KA BP), belong to the first half of the Late Paleolithic.

Suzuki's parking lot is located in Kohei Metropolitan Area. Archaeological surveys were carried out during 1974 on a plot of 4880 m2. Materials from six archaeological cultures dating from the Early to late Upper Paleolithic period were found here.

Three axes with a polished blade were located in the lowest cultural layer IX, stratigraphically related to the lower part of the secondary black loams of Tachikawa. There were also found axes made with upholstery, large oblong flakes, scrapers, knife-shaped tools, chippers, etc. Layer AT, which marks the age of sediments, corresponds to cultural horizon VI. Tools from the overlying layers IV and III, which belong to the second half of the Late Paleolithic, were small in size. From layer IV, a large number of knife - like tools and spikelets were extracted, and from layer III, many microplates were extracted.

The Shimofure-usifuse parking lot is located in Kyuakabori village near Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture. Excavations were carried out from November 1982 to March 1983 on an area of 33,000 m2. Paleolithic material was found in the upper (1st cultural layer) and middle (2nd cultural layer) parts of the loam. In the 1st cultural layer, seven pebble clusters were recorded in the form of irregular circles, separated from each other by 3 - 4 m. Each such complex consisted of hundreds of pebbles of different sizes. Tools are represented by a significant number of sharp points, knife-shaped products, incisors, small-sized scrapers.

In the 2nd cultural layer, 2,037 artifacts were found, located in 21 clusters. Each of them had an ellipsoid shape; planigraphically, all structures were a closed curve with the inner area in the form of an irregular ellipse. All the clusters contained guns. Among them were found 10 stone axes with a polished blade and 10 plates removed from these axes, which was installed with the help of repairs.

The Musashidai parking lot is located in Futyu City of the metropolitan area. The Musashidai Valley is clearly visible from the territory of the monument. Excavations were carried out from 1981 to 1983 on an area of 2,868 m2. The total thickness of the section, at the base of which the pebble alluvium lay, was 8 m; this sequence was subdivided into 25 lithological horizons. 10 cultural layers contained artifacts of the first half of the Paleolithic period and historical time. Three cultural horizons were identified in the lower part of the AT layer, and five in the upper part.

Stone axes with a polished blade came from the lower part of the AT layer: five-from the lowest cultural layer X-b and one-from the overlying X-a, where the plate removed from this axe was also found. The raw material for it was obsidian, and for the four axes from layer X-b - sandstone. The X-a layer also contained knife-like tools, chisels, scrapers, etc., while the X - b layer contained chipped axes, pebbles, and a large number of irregularly shaped stone plates with insignificant traces of use.

Hinatabayashi-B parking lot is located near the lake. Nojiri in Nagano Prefecture. Many accumulations of stone tools have been found here. Along with beaten axes, knife-like and pebble tools, a number of axes with polished blades were found. A characteristic feature of this site can be considered the presence of an oval grindstone with a length of 16.5 cm, made of sandstone. In its central part there is a large depression formed as a result of grinding. This stone evokes associations with small-sized Ishizara stone mortars dating back to the Jomon era.

The Tsukinoki and Ookubo-minami sites in Nagano Prefecture also contained knife-like implements and axes with polished blades. On the first of them, the same sandstone whetstones were found, as in the Hinatabayashi-B parking lot, but large in size - their length reached 23.7 cm. Similar finds have been recorded both in the Kanto area (for example, at the Nanokamachi site in Hyogo Prefecture) and beyond.

Axes with polished blades were found together with knife-shaped tools at the sites of Boyama and Minami-sanridzuka-miyahara-1 in Chiba Prefecture, Shimosato-motomura in the metropolitan area.

Conclusion

1. The time of use of axes with polished blades was limited to the first half of the late-

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Early Paleolithic. The lower part of the AT layer refers to a time of approx. 22 KA BP, and in Gunma Prefecture, Ag-KP deposits occur 1 m below it, which are 32 Ka old (Machida Hiroshi and Arai Fusao, 1992). Judging by the stratigraphic position of the polished axes, they were used in the range of 30-25 thousand years ago. However, this problem is still not solved today. In Japan, there are not many cultural remnants of 25-30 thousand years old. Not only the issue of axes with polished blades, but also the problems associated with the appearance of broken axes are waiting to be solved. This requires new finds on the Eurasian mainland, but to date there is no information about them.

So after all, why do axes with polished blades completely disappear after the AT layer? It seems that the reason should be sought in the sphere of their use, as well as in sudden changes in natural character. It should be borne in mind that as a result of a strong eruption of the Aira-Tanzawa volcano, a large amount of volcanic ash was thrown out, which prevented the penetration of sunlight and thereby contributed to a decrease in temperature. As a result, the ecological situation in the Far East has changed dramatically. At that time, there were several other strong eruptions, but it was determined that the spread of volcanic lava was limited to Kagoshima Bay. The thickness of the pumice layer in Kagoshima Prefecture near the epicenter of the eruption is very significant. Moreover, it is established that in the Russian Primorye region, which is several thousand kilometers away from these places, there are also deposits of AT [Ibid.].

As a result of the sharp cold snap, changes in the plant world took place: mixed forests - broadleaf and coniferous - were replaced by a lot of flat fern thickets and cold steppes. This conclusion was made based on the results of pollen analysis (Serizawa Chosuke, 1982).

It seems that stone axes were mainly used for cutting down trees and processing wood materials (Sakhara Makoto, 1994). With the decrease in forest resources, the need for axes gradually disappeared. The disappearance of forests and the formation of steppes led to a change in hunting objects, as a result of which hunting tools also changed. In the AT layer, which corresponds to the time after the eruption of the volcano, there are more pointed tools designed for throwing, which have replaced the knife-shaped ones.

2. In the Early Upper Paleolithic deposits preceding the AT layer, at the sites of Shimofure-usifuse (Gunma Prefecture), Hinatabayashi-B (Nagano Prefecture), Shimosato-motomura (Metropolitan District), Boyama, Deguchi-kanezuka, Minami-sanrid-zuka-miyahara-1 (Chiba Prefecture), and a number of other sites. other things-

pores with polished blades were found together with knife-like tools, which were most often represented by the most ancient trapezoid variants, morphologically very similar to axes with a polished blade. Perhaps it was on the basis of trapezoidal tools that the tradition of making polished axes was formed in the early period of the Upper Paleolithic. As for trapezoidal tools, it is necessary to study the question of their origin based on the Kirihara site in Gunma Prefecture, which dates back to the time after the eruption of Akagiyama Volcano and the formation of Ag-KP volcanic ash deposits (Aizawa Tadahiro and Sekiya Akira, 1988).

3. Trapezoidal tools and axes with polished blades were found in ring-shaped complexes, the interpretation of which is very difficult. One of them is considered to be the remains of a temporary dwelling or, possibly, a stationary residential structure (Kosuge Masao, 2005). However, no pits for supporting pillars were found along the edges of sufficiently large platforms (more than 10 m long) with a cluster of stones. The absence of traces of strong supports necessary for structures of such significant dimensions makes it difficult to accept the hypothesis of the existence of stationary residential structures. Since there were many nuclei, plates, and bumpers in such complexes, and all the nuclei and plates could be repaired, it can be concluded that tools were being made in these places.

4. A number of axes with polished blades (for example, from the Iwajuku and Musashidai sites) also had their midsection ground. This suggests that the entire surface of the tool was polished not only in the Neolithic, but also in the Paleolithic. The choice of a part for particularly careful processing was determined by the purpose of the product. Probably, the discovery of partially ground axes together with grindstones with a notch indicates a technological relationship between these objects.

Axes with polished blades and repairable plates were found at the sites of Suzuki, Shimofure-usifuse and Musashidai. These chips of the re-registration of the damaged working part of the products suggest the possibility of secondary use of restored tools.

5.At the site of Afontova Gora-2, which is located in Krasnoyarsk (Russian Federation), tools were found that are very similar in shape to axes with polished blades found in Japan (Kato Simpei, 1971). It is believed that the traces of recycling found on them indicate the use of these tools as adzes when processing wood. However, by the nature of blade grinding, the Afontov finds differ from the Japanese topos.-

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a moat with polished blades. In addition, they were found in sediments that are 20 thousand years old. Be that as it may, the Siberian finds suggest the spread of the technique of making axes with a polished blade on the continent.

In any case, it is necessary to further study issues related to the time of appearance of axes with polished blades, the nature of their use and the reasons for their disappearance.

List of literature

Aizawa Tadahiro, Sekiya Akira. Akagi-sanroku no kyusheki (Paleolithic at the foot of Mount Akagi-san). Tokyo: Kodansha Publ., 1988 (in Japanese).

Yokoyama Yuuhei. Musashidai iseki I (Musashi-dai I parking lot). Tokyo: Toritsu-futyu-beinnai iseki tesakai, 1984 (in Japanese).

Iwasaki Taiichi. Shimofure-usifuse iseki (Shimofure-usifuse parking lot). - Shibukawashi: Zaidan hjin gunma-ken maizo bunkazai chesa jigedan, 1986 (in Japanese).

Kato Simpei. Mammosu hanta (Mammoth Hunters). Tokyo: Gakuseisha Publ., 1971 (in Japanese).

Kosuge Masao. Kanjo burokku-tun (Ring-shaped stone complexes). Midorishi: Kasakakeno-Iwazkju bunka shirekan, 2005 (in Japanese).

Machida Hiroshi, Arai Fusao. Kazanbai atorasu (Atlas of Volcanic Ash). - Tokyo: Tokyo daigaku shugshankai, 1992 (nayap. yaz.).

Makoto's Sahara. Ono no bunkashi (History of Axe Culture). - Tokyo: Tokyo daigaku shugshankai, 1994 (in Japanese).

Sugihara Sosuke. Gunma-ken Iwajuku hakken no sekki bunka (Iwajuku Stone Culture in pref. Gumma). - Tokyo: Meiji Daigaku, 1956 (in Japanese).

Serizawa Chosuke. Paleolithic of Japan / / Iwanami sinee. - Tokyo, 1982. - N209. - p. 141-145 (in Japanese).

Tateno Takashi. Suzuki iseki III (Parking Lot Suzuki III). Tokyo: Suzuki Iseki Keikokai, 1980 (in Japanese).

The article was submitted to the Editorial Board on 16.02.06.

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