The Jōmon period is the long prehistoric era in Japan, named after the cord-marked pattern on its pottery, which is among the oldest in the world. The people of this time were mostly hunter-gatherers and fishers who also gathered nuts and, in later phases, cultivated some plants. They lived in pit dwellings, often in settled villages such as Sannai Maruyama in northern Honshu. Their culture produced distinctive clay figurines known as dogū, as well as elaborate flame-style pots. The period lasted for many thousands of years and gave way to the Yayoi culture, which brought rice farming and metal working from the continent.
Before and after
- about 20,000 years agoThe earliest known pottery is made in China
- from about 17,000 years ago to 12,000 years agoMagdalenian
- from about 16,000 years ago to 8th millennium BCEEpipaleolithic
- about 15,100 years agoDogs are domesticated
- from about 15,000 years ago to 1st millennium BCEJōmon period
- from about 14,000 years ago to 9th millennium BCENatufian culture
- about 13,000 years agoThe megafauna of the Americas die out
- from about 13,000 years ago to 9,750s BCEYounger Dryas
- about 12,400 years agoEruption of Moekeshiwan [Lvinaya Past]
More in Evolution & life
- 76th century BCECats begin to live with farmers
- from c. 5,600s BCE to 4,900s BCELinear Pottery culture
- from 56th century BCE to 20th century BCESumer
- from 55th century BCE to 45th century BCEVinča culture
- from c. 3,500 BCE to 2,500 BCEAfanasevo culture
- from c. 3,300 BCE to 600 BCEBronze Age
The era
This moment belongs to the Human prehistory (300,000 years ago to 3,200 BCE), the human story before writing.