New research into ancient Japanese rice farming suggests that technological development does not always mean the abandonment of cultural practices, particularly culinary traditions. The research is published in the journal PNAS and forms part of the ENCOUNTER Project, led by Dr. Enrico Crema at the University of Cambridge.
Archaeologists from the University of York, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge and the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties in Japan, studied residues found in ancient pottery and charred plant remains from this period. The study found that although both rice and millet were introduced to Japan together, likely carried across the sea by groups from southern Korea, they did not necessarily transform Japanese society.
"Organic residue analysis has been crucial to our investigation into the earliest impacts of rice and millet agriculture. It allows us to capture how these crops were actually used, offering a direct window into the culinary practices and crop interactions of early Japanese society," said Dr. Jasmine Lundy from the University of York's Department of Archaeology, according to a press release published on EurekAlert.
While millet was a dietary staple in Korea, especially during the Bronze Age, it barely shows up in early Japanese diets. "The absence of millet from Japanese food residues and human bones was a surprise to us, given that we knew both rice and millet had been introduced at this time," said Professor Oliver Craig from the University of York's Department of Archaeology.
"We know from isotope analysis of fats and oils in cooking pots that millet was a major part of the Korean diet and continues to be eaten to this day, but it seemed that it made no impact on early Japanese cuisine," he continued.
The research team found that fish dishes, which were already a culinary tradition in Japan, continued to be the main source of food despite the arrival of rice and millet. "There is evidence of Korean-style pottery and farming tools in Japan, but this didn't line up with changes to the way people cooked and ate. Yayoi pots were still used to cook fish and other wild foods, and few show signs of being dedicated to rice-cooking," said Dr. Shinya Shoda from the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties and honorary researcher at the University of York.
"While we see changes in pottery styles and other forms of material culture in Japan with the arrival of rice and millet, food culture remains remarkably consistent. And while Japan's culinary history eventually catches up with the rice boom that we see in Korea, it may have taken some time to have impacted everyday practices, suggesting food culture is deeply embedded and can survive major technological shifts," said Craig.
The researchers highlight that this perspective from history shows that not all technological developments progress society at the same rate. Some cultural practices can hold steady for centuries, even in the face of technological change. The arrival of rice farming, imported from the Korean Peninsula, marked a turning point for agricultural farming in Japan approximately 3,000 years ago. Rice would eventually transform Japanese society.
However, new evidence from cooking pot residue in prehistoric Japan shows that culinary traditions were unaffected by the uptake of farmed produce. In Southern Scandinavia, hunting, fishing, and gathering for wild foods continued for many years after the introduction of farming. Elsewhere in Britain, there was an abandonment of foraging for food in favor of agriculture.
"These latest findings add to our body of work in the ENCOUNTER Project, which has so far shown the diffusion rates of farming within the Japanese archipelago, the demographic impact of farming, and how different cultural traits might have been conditioned by marriage practices," said Dr. Enrico Crema.
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