Edge-Ground and Waisted Axes in the Western Pacific Islands: Implications for an Example from the Yaeyama Islands, Southernmost Japan

dc.contributor.authorAnderson, Atholl
dc.contributor.authorSummerhayes, Glenn
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-08T22:44:54Z
dc.date.issued2008
dc.date.updated2015-12-08T10:48:43Z
dc.description.abstractA flaked, ground, and waisted axe, discovered on Iriomote Island in the Yaeyama group, southernmost Japan, appears to be a unique find in Japanese prehistory. Its resemblance to waisted, edge-ground axes which, in Australia, are of Pleistocene age, and to similar artifacts of early Holocene age in New Guinea, as well as potential antecedents in the Pleistocene edge-ground axes of Honshu, invites questions about its significance. This is especially so because the Yaeyama Islands are regarded currently as having been first occupied by people during the Shimotabaru phase of Neolithic culture, beginning about 3800 B.P. Comparison with similar western Pacific artifacts, and consideration of the eustatic history of the Yaeyamas, suggest that the Iriomote example might be of early Holocene age, although its origin within the late Holocene cannot be excluded. The find raises questions about the human history of the southern Ryukyu groups that demand further research.
dc.identifier.issn0066-8435
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/37602
dc.publisherUniversity of Hawaii Press
dc.sourceAsian Perspectives
dc.source.urihttp://muse.jhu.edu/journals/asian_perspectives/v047/47.1anderson02.pdf
dc.subjectKeywords: archaeological evidence; artifact; colonization; cultural history; Holocene; Neolithic; Pleistocene; Asia; Australasia; Australia; Eurasia; Far East; Iriomote; Japan; Malay Archipelago; New Guinea; Okinawa [Ryukyu Islands]; Pacific islands; Pacific Ocean; Holocene colonization; Japan; Polished waisted axe; Yaeyama Islands
dc.titleEdge-Ground and Waisted Axes in the Western Pacific Islands: Implications for an Example from the Yaeyama Islands, Southernmost Japan
dc.typeJournal article
local.bibliographicCitation.issue1
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage58
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage45
local.contributor.affiliationAnderson, Atholl, College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU
local.contributor.affiliationSummerhayes, Glenn, College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU
local.contributor.authoremailu9309509@anu.edu.au
local.contributor.authoruidAnderson, Atholl, u9309509
local.contributor.authoruidSummerhayes, Glenn, u9800968
local.description.embargo2037-12-31
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.identifier.absfor210103 - Archaeology of Asia, Africa and the Americas
local.identifier.ariespublicationu4029967xPUB151
local.identifier.citationvolume47
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-41549090428
local.identifier.uidSubmittedByu4029967
local.type.statusPublished Version

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