| Abstract: |
From c.5000 BC to AD 900, the Ryukyu Jomon culture flourished in the northern Ryukyu Islands. During this period, cultural relationships between this region and mainland Japan were intermittent and limited. The Ryukyu Jomon culture also had some cultural similarities with certain assemblages in Southeast Asia and Oceania. In terms of pottery, the Ryukyu Jomon possessed nine successive indigenous styles whose transitional processes were continuous. Furthermore, in the northern Ryukyus the durations of the different pottery styles were relatively short. The main subsistence economy of this culture was based on foraging for wild plants and animals, an economy was well adapted to coral reef islands in the subtropics. However, swidden horticulture might also have been practiced. Cultural differences like those that existed during the historic period between the Ryukyu and mainland Japan (Yamato) might have extended back to the time of the Ryukyu Jomon culture.
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