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縄文 · JōmonTrade and boats12 sentences

交易と丸木舟

Trade and Dugout Canoes

The people of the Jōmon period did not live only within a single village.

They also exchanged goods with distant villages.

This is called trade.

The goods that were carried included obsidian, jade, salt, and asphalt.

Obsidian was obtained in the mountains of Nagano Prefecture and Hokkaido, on Oki Island in Shimane Prefecture, and elsewhere.

Obsidian from Kōzu Island in the Izu Islands has been found at sites on Honshu.

Since Kōzu Island lies across the sea, this shows that people crossed the sea by boat.

Jade was obtained at Itoigawa in Niigata Prefecture and was carried to many parts of Japan.

Those boats were dugout canoes, boats made by hollowing out a single large tree.

Dugout canoes have been found at places such as the Torihama shell mound in Fukui Prefecture.

The boats were used both for fishing and for traveling far away.

The people of the Jōmon period were a mountain people and, at the same time, a people of the sea.

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