On Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s four main islands, 11.000 years ago humans still lived as nomads without permanent settlements. It was only several thousand years later that they began cultivating crops. Yet they were already producing ceramic vessels—the hallmark of sedentary farmers. This is very unusual compared to the developments in western Asia and China.
Since 2011, a team from the Beijing branch has been investigating why the earliest inhabitants of northern Japan invented other economic strategies. To this end, excavations are taking place in collaboration with the Hakodate Jomon Culture Center on the southern end of Hokkaido. The initiative is part of the Baikal-Hokkaido Archeology Project, one of the most successful research programs in northeast Asia.
Excavation and museum at Ofune (Photo: DAI Peking) 
Ceramics from the Jomon period (Neolithic), sorted by periods (Photo: DAI Peking)