Professor Hiroki Obata of the International Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, Kumamoto University found 28 indentations of Kokuzoumushi on fragments of deep pot-shaped pottery from the late Jomon period excavated from the Yakushoda site in Ebino City, Miyazaki Prefecture.It is estimated that 250 maize weevil were smeared on the clay in the entire pottery.This is the first time that a pottery containing a large amount of maize weevil has been found in Kyushu.
According to Kumamoto University, the maize weevil is a beetle of the family Sipalinus gigas and is known as a pest of stored rice.Previously, it was thought that it came from the Korean Peninsula with the arrival of rice, but Professor Obata's research shows that it lived in Japan earlier than the spread of rice.
The pieces of earthenware in which the maize weevil indentation was found were about 3,600 years old, and the estimated number of maize weevil in the whole earthenware was the highest density among the earthenware with the maize weevil indentation found in the whole country.
The contamination of maize weevil is thought to represent the cultivation and spread of chestnuts in the Jomon period, and the spirituality of Jomon people toward food.Not only the maize weevil but also the acorn skin was mixed in the pottery piece this time, and it is thought that the manners and intentions were different from those in other areas where only the maize weevil was applied.
Until now, it was only expected that the maize weevil was eating the stored acorns.Professor Obata sees this discovery as indirect evidence that the Jomon weevil may have harmed the stored acorns.
Paper information:[Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports] Jomon pottery and maize weevils, Sitophilus zeamais, in Japan
