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

Autor: Mark Hudson, Junzō Uchiyama, Kati Lindström, Takamune Kawashima, Ian Reader, Tinka Delakorda Kawashima, Danièle Martin, J. Christoper Gillam, Linda Gilaizeau, Ilona R. Bausch, Kara C. Hoover
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, Vol 9, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2022)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2662-9992
DOI: 10.1057/s41599-022-01094-8
Popis: 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.
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