Prehistoric Japan
Jomon foragers, Yayoi rice, Kofun tombs
The Last Ice Age and the First Pots
the Pleistocene ends, the islands form, and somebody fires the world's oldest pot
~14,500–10,000 BCE
Living the Jomon Way
complex hunter-gatherers without agriculture for eight thousand years
~10,000–1,500 BCE
The Late Jomon Contraction
climatic cooling, ritual intensification, and the long thinning out before the Yayoi arrived
~2,000–300 BCE
The Yayoi Revolution
rice, bronze, and iron arrive together from Korea and remake the islands in centuries
~900 BCE – 100 BCE
A Hundred Warring Kingdoms
Yayoi society in the Chinese chronicles and the Gold Seal of the King of Na
~100 BCE – 250 CE
Queen Himiko and Yamatai
the shaman queen, the unresolved Yamatai location debate, and the first named ruler of Japan
~190–280 CE
The Kofun Mystery
keyhole tombs, the Yamato court, and the largest tomb in the world by surface area
~250–500 CE
On the Threshold
the Soga clan rises, Korean technology peaks, and the Buddha statue arrives in 538
~500–538 CE