Genealogy in the ground: observations of jar burials of the Yayoi period, northern Kyushu, Japan

Abstract

The author finds that cemeteries in early first millennium Japan reflect the associations of family with land. The burial parties of a core settlement could be seen to be referring to earlier burials in a dynastic or genealogical sequence, while a secondary settlement developed its burial ground in a disordered sequence. Thus Koji Mizoguchi shows that the differences between the haves and have-nots extended their having, or not having, a history.