Global processes of anthropogenesis characterise the early Anthropocene in the Japanese Islands

Mark Hudson (), Junzō Uchiyama, Kati Lindström, Takamune Kawashima, Ian Reader, Tinka Delakorda Kawashima, Danièle Martin, J. Christoper Gillam, Linda Gilaizeau, Ilona R. Bausch and Kara C. Hoover
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Mark Hudson: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Junzō Uchiyama: Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures
Kati Lindström: KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Takamune Kawashima: Hiroshima University Museum
Ian Reader: University of Manchester
Tinka Delakorda Kawashima: Hiroshima University
Danièle Martin: Université Catholique de Lyon
J. Christoper Gillam: Winthrop University
Linda Gilaizeau: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Ilona R. Bausch: Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures
Kara C. Hoover: University of Alaska Fairbanks

Palgrave Communications, 2022, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Although many scholars date the onset of the Anthropocene to the Industrial Revolution or the post-1945 ‘Great Acceleration’, there is growing interest in understanding earlier human impacts on the earth system. Research on the ‘Palaeoanthropocene’ has investigated the role of fire, agriculture, trade, urbanisation and other anthropogenic impacts. While there is increasing consensus that such impacts were more important than previously realised, geographical variation during the Palaeoanthropocene remains poorly understood. Here, we present a preliminary comparative analysis of claims that pre-industrial anthropogenic impacts in Japan were significantly reduced by four factors: the late arrival of agriculture, an emphasis on wet-rice farming limited to alluvial plains, a reliance on seafood rather than domesticated animals as a primary source of dietary protein, and cultural ideologies of environmental stewardship. We find that none of these claims of Japanese exceptionalism can be supported by the archaeological and historical records. We make some suggestions for further research but conclude that the Japanese sequence appears consistent with global trends towards increased anthropogenic impacts over the course of the Palaeoanthropocene.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1057/s41599-022-01094-8

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