1st Edition

Globalizing the Prehistory of Japan Language, genes and civilisation

By Ann Kumar Copyright 2009
218 Pages
by Routledge

220 Pages
by Routledge

224 Pages
by Routledge

This iconoclastic work on the prehistory of Japan and of South East Asia challenges entrenched views on the origins of Japanese society and identity. The social changes that took place in Japan in the time-period when the Jomon culture was replaced by the Yayoi culture were of exceptional magnitude, going far beyond those of the so-called Neolithic Revolution in other parts of the... Read more

1. Myths and Mental Space  2. The Prehistories of Japan and Indonesia  3. The Evidence of the Rice  4. The Evidence of the Teeth and Skulls  5. DNA, Ancient and Modern  6. The Evidence of Language: the Words that Tell the Story  7. Royal Rice Rituals and the Cultivated Prince Conclusion

Biography

Ann Kumar is Professor in the Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University, and former Vice-President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

'This book succeeds in forcing us to reconsider the possible long-distance
influences on early Japan as well as overturning the assumption that Java was always a
cultural recipient, whether of Austronesians or Indianization, and it constitutes a strong
case for more systematic Metal-Age archaeology on Java and its surrounding islands.'        - DORIAN Q. FULLER University College London.