Changes

* Japanese: 縄文時代 ''(Joumon Jidai)''

* Japanese: 縄文時代 ''(Joumon Jidai)''

The earliest categorized period of Japanese history extending from roughly 8,500 BCE to 300 BCE.<ref>Some sources give starting dates as early as 14,500 BCE; Schirokauer, et al., 6.</ref> The period is named for pottery bearing cord marks<ref>''Jô'' 縄 meaning "cord" or "rope," and ''mon'' 文 meaning "markings"</ref> from this period. The Jômon period in the Japanese islands may have seen the earliest invention (discovery) of [[pottery]] (ceramics) technology in the world.

The earliest categorized period of Japanese history extending from roughly 8,500 BCE to 300 BCE.<ref>Some sources give starting dates as early as 14,500 BCE; Schirokauer, et al., 6.</ref> The period is named for pottery bearing cord marks<ref>''Jô'' 縄 meaning "cord" or "rope," and ''mon'' 文 meaning "markings"</ref> from this period. The Jômon period in the Japanese islands may have seen the earliest invention (discovery) of [[pottery]] (ceramics) technology in the world. Scholars have noted it particularly interesting that this hunter-gatherer society should have developed pottery, since in the rest of the world pottery was quite typically developed for storage for grain & other agricultural products.<ref>[[Albert M. Craig]], ''The Heritage of Japanese Civilization'', Second Edition, Prentice Hall (2011), 4.</ref>

The majority of Jômon pottery was, of course, quite simple and utilitarian in style and design. However, for a brief period towards the end of the Jômon period, some communities created exceptional vessels with flamboyant flame-like shapes, in a rather impractical design. Wide-eyed doll-like figures known as ''[[dogu|dôgu]]'' are also oft-cited examples of Jômon pottery; typically found broken in particular ways, archaeologists have surmised that these doll-like figures may have played a ritual purpose, being deliberately broken as part of the ritual of activating the object, in order to provide healing, or perhaps some other effect.

The majority of Jômon pottery was, of course, quite simple and utilitarian in style and design. However, for a brief period towards the end of the Jômon period, some communities created exceptional vessels with flamboyant flame-like shapes, in a rather impractical design. Wide-eyed doll-like figures known as ''[[dogu|dôgu]]'' are also oft-cited examples of Jômon pottery; typically found broken in particular ways, archaeologists have surmised that these doll-like figures may have played a ritual purpose, being deliberately broken as part of the ritual of activating the object, in order to provide healing, or perhaps some other effect.