Kaizuka period

History of Ryukyu
Periods Palaeolithic pre–10,000 BC Early Kaizuka Period 8,000–300 BC Late Kaizuka Period 300 BC–1100 AD Gusuku period 1187–1314 Tenson dynasty 16616 BC?– 1186 AD? Shunten dynasty 1187?– 1259? Eiso dynasty 1260?– 1349 Sanzan 1314–1429 Hokuzan 1314?–1416 Chūzan 1314?–1429 Nanzan 1314?–1429 Ryukyu Kingdom 1429–1879 First Shō dynasty 1429–1469 Second Shō dynasty 1469–1879 Satsuma Invasion 1609 Ryukyu Domain 1872–1879 Japanese Annexation 1879 Meiji 1879–1912 Taishō 1912–1926 Pre-World War II 1926–1945 Militarism Battle of Okinawa 1945 U. S. administration 1945–1972 Military Government 1945–1950 Civil Administration 1950–1972 Government 1952–1972 Tokara Reversion 1952 Amami Reversion 1953 Koza riot 1970 Okinawa Reversion Agreement 1971 Okinawa Reversion 1972 Okinawa Prefecture 1972–present Kagoshima Prefecture 1953–present
Topics Missions to Imperial China Missions from Imperial China Missions to Joseon Missions from Joseon Missions to Edo Independence movement
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The Kaizuka Period^[1] (Japanese: 貝塚時代, Kaizuka jidai); literally the "Shellmound Period" is one of the periods of the prehistory of the Okinawa and Amami Islands.^[2] It is defined as the period of the prehistory in the Amami and Okinawa Islands with pottery. It lasts from 8000 BCE to the 11th or 12th centuries CE.^[3] The culture that develops during this period is called the Kaizuka Culture (Japanese: 貝塚文化, Kaizuka bunka). It is divided into Early and Late Kaizuka Period, the difference residing in a shift in the settlement location and the development of trade with the neighbouring cultures, first Japan, and then China and Korea.

  Economy is mainly based on gathering, fishing and hunting, the principal resources exploited being acorns, fishes and shellfishes. Settlements are limited in size, with the apparition of perennial villages by the end of the Early Kaizuka Period. The material culture is dominated by an important pottery production and very characteristic bone and shell artefacts.

From the 12th century, the Kaizuka Culture is followed by the Gusuku Culture, the first agricultural culture of the Okinawa Islands.^[4]

In the Sakishima Islands, the southernmost part of the Ryūkyū Archipelago, the period parallel to the Okinawan Kaizuka Period is called the Sakishima Prehistoric Period. The Amami Islands, the northernmost part of the Ryūkyū Archipelago, first showed strong cultural relation with the Kaizuka Culture, before they shifted and got closer to the Japanese cultural sphere.^[5]