Faunal remains of the end of the Incipient Jomon period from Kugo Cave in Gifu, Central Japan

Only a few sites yield faunal remains from layers attributed to the Incipient Jomon period (from the terminal Pleistocene to the beginning of the Holocene) in Central Japan. Therefore, cave sites with preserved faunal remains have received considerable attention, allowing for new faunal data to be accumulated. This study reported faunal remains recovered in 1950 from Kugo Cave in Central Japan, which revealed subsistence at the end of the Incipient Jomon period. Two deer bones were dated to ca. 11,658 and 11,627 cal BP in the medians using radiocarbon dating. Faunal composition indicated that sika deer and wild boars were the main hunted species. Moreover, the remains of Japanese macaques, black bears, and serow indicated utilization of various mountainous animal resources near the site. Tooth eruption stage of boar mandibles suggested that they were hunted during winter. Furthermore, comparison of the size of the deer bones from the Kugo Cave deer revealed the bones to be larger than those discovered in other period sites in the adjacent regions. Thus, new archaeozoological data on the faunal remains of the end of the Incipient Jomon period provide multiple implications regarding hunter-gatherer subsistence during this period.