A comparative archaeological study on prehistoric burial positions in Japan and the Old World

在保存完好的沉积环境中，尽管关于埋葬地点的考古数据几乎可以普遍收集。然而，关于这一问题的大规模研究很少。因此，我们的项目试图以日本、东亚和欧洲的数据为基础，采用比较的方法，得出以下三点结论：(1)柔门时期日本群岛的主要做法是屈葬。然而，随着弥合时期初大陆影响的引入，这种情况有向延葬的趋势转变，在高芬时期的建国时期成为主流。(2)东亚的情况在时间上与柔门期相对应，基本上以延葬为特征。事实上，在柔门时期最早的时期，导致屈葬在日本传播的葬礼影响很可能来自南部岛屿，而不是亚洲大陆本身，这在思考柔门文化谱系的问题上是相当新的观点。(3)屈葬是新石器时代欧洲的主要习俗，而中国则表现出明显的延葬倾向。由于欧亚大陆东部和西部的地域性，埋葬方式有很大的差异，需要对其背景进行进一步的调查。以上观察只是经过三年调查后阐述的基础，可以期待新的发展，因为我们打算从埋葬类型的角度进行进一步的研究。

In well preserved depositional environment, even though archaeological data about burial positions can be almost universally colleted. However, very few studies have been undertaken on a large scale on this matter. Our project thus, tried to emphasized, with a comparative approach, on data from Japan, East Asia and Europe, and reached the 3 points conclusion below.(1)Flexed burial was the main practice during Jomon period's Japanese archipelago. However, with the introduction of continental influence at the beginning of Yayoi period, the situation tends to change toward extended burial practices, which became mainstream during the state formation age of the Kofun period.(2)The situation in East Asia, chronologically corresponding to Jomon period, is essentially characterized by extended burials. In fact, there is a good probability that during the earliest phase of Jomon period, funerary influences responsible for the diffusion of flexed burial in Japan rather came from the southern islands than the Asian continent itself, which point of view is quite new in the matter of thinking the genealogy of Jomon culture.(3)Flexed burials represent the main practice in Neolithic Europe, while China shows a clear preference for extended burial. There are significant differences in burial practices due to regionalisms between eastern and western Eurasia, situation that needs further investigations regarding its background.The above observations constitute nothing more than a basis, elaborated after three years of investigations, and one can expect new developments as we intend to conduct further research from the burial type point of view.