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Evidence shows that different areas have had different
views and uses of cetaceans. In Ishikawa Prefecture facing the Japan Sea,
cetacean remains have been found at 9 out of 22 (40.9%) sites with faunal
remains from the Jomon to the Kofun period: for example, at the Mawaki
site there is evidence to show that dolphin hunting was conducted from
the Early Jomon period before 5000 B.P. The rock engraving at Ban-gu Dae
in Kyongsan Namdo in southeast Korea shows large whale hunting in some
periods from the Neolithic to the Early Iron period before 2000 B.P. At
7 out of 38 shell middens of Kyongsan Namdo, cetacean remains have been
found and the cetacean-site-ratio (18.4%) is higher than 5.6% (31/551)
in Chiba or 7.7% (25/325) in Miyagi Prefecture which faces the Pacific
Ocean and where shell middens are highly concentrated. This ratio is approximately
the same as 21.5% (14/65) of Nagasaki Prefecture, which is separated from
Kyonsan Namdo by a narrow streak of water. In the Liaotung Peninsula and
the Changshan Isles, adjacent to the west side of the Korean Peninsula,
cetacean remains have been found at 2 out of 33 (6.1%) shell middens. In
Southeast Asia and South China, cetacean remains have been excavated from
2 out of 256 (0.1%) shell middens. The present data suggests the probability
that cetacean hunting has been taboo among the Chinese fishermen in Hong
Kong since the prehistoric age. Likewise, Tsuji-jima in the Amakusa Isles
in Kumamoto Prefecture adjacent to southeast Nagasaki Prefecture, it may
be assumed that the tradition of not hunting dolphins derives from the
Jomon period, given the fact that the fishermen still have no custom of
dolphin hunting, though some dolphin pods settle down inshore, and that
no dolphin remains have been found at the Okinohara shell midden. From
an ethno-archaeological viewpoint, I will discuss the major factors for
the variety of views or uses regarding cetaceans in various areas. (I B I REPORTS, 7:147-155, 1997) |
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