TY - JOUR AU - Miyuki Yakushige AU - Hiroyuki Sato PY - 2014/03/15 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Shirataki obsidian exploitation and circulation in prehistoric northern Japan JF - Journal of Lithic Studies JA - JLS VL - 1 IS - 1 SE - Research Articles DO - 10.2218/jls.v1i1.768 UR - http://journals.ed.ac.uk/lithicstudies/article/view/768 AB - Presently, the total number of archaeological obsidian sources in Japan is more than 80, and among them, 21 are in Hokkaido, northern part of the Japanese archipelago (Izuho and Sato 2007). Obsidian was the dominant of lithic raw material in the Upper Paleolithic Hokkaido (35-10 ka cal BP). Out of 21 archaeological obsidian sources in Hokkaido, 4 sources: Shirataki, Oketo, Tokachi, and Akaigawa are the major obsidian sources and the others are minor sources. Shirataki is one of the largest obsidian sources in Northeast Asia and it is well known that Shirataki obsidian was transported outside Hokkaido to Sakhalin and the Paleo-Honshu Island from the Late Upper Paleolithic period.We compiled data of obsidian source analyses conducted to artefacts from Paleolithic sites in Hokkaido, and it became clear that the ratio of Shirataki obsidian in all analyzed materials is more than half (Sato and Yakushige in press).We examined how far Shirataki obsidian was transported in each period: the Early Upper Paleolithic (35-25 ka cal BP) and the Late Upper Paleolithic (25-10 ka cal BP). The Late Upper Paleolithic is divided into three stage, the early Early Microblade Industry (Stage 1: 25-21 ka cal BP), the late Early Microblade Industry (Stage 2: 19-16 ka cal BP), and the Late Microblade Industry (Stage 3: 16-10 ka cal BP). As a result, it is revealed that the distribution areas of Shirataki obsidian did not expand gradually over time, but are different in different lithic industries. In the background of this situation lay the difference of ecological adaptation strategies adopted by the prehistoric people of the time and their movement behavioral strategies. ER -