hide
Free keywords:
Fisheries, Globalization, Maritime technology, Trade, Maritime mode of production, State accessible products, Japanese Islands
Abstract:
Archaeological research exploring prehistoric food globalization is beginning to transform our understanding of early agricultural expansions and exchange. By contrast, a more linear progression from aboriginal to global systems remains a common interpretation of the long-term history of fisheries, a trend sometimes reinforced by ideas about ‘traditional’ culinary heritage. Archaeological and historical information, including faunal remains, fishing tools and trading patterns, are used here to propose a seven-stage model for the history of Japanese fisheries from 14.5 ka (thousand years) BCE to the present. An analysis of causal factors behind these stages shows that globalization played a key role in all seven. Differences in the pattern of the premodern globalization of fisheries between Japan and Atlantic Europe underline the need for further research in this field.
