1.    Relatively high level of cultural and technological dev; specifically the stage @ which writing and keeping of written records is attained
2. highest cultural grouping of people
3.   have been NO civilations
4. limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessaries 

Time of marked improvements in ways to make a living and in living

Jômon = literally means "rope-pattern"

• critical invention of time and earliest: pottery
• earthenware decorated with textured surface, didn't hold water well (bc low temp prevented clay to completely congealed)
• used to cook and store food (decreasing the risk of starvation)

clay figurines that started to have humanoid/rodent faces, also appeared on the pottery

- though reason for their existence is unclear, they take away the utilitarian value of the clay pots

• marks the new age of the Yayoi
• arrival of the paddy rice from southern China
• rice growing communities developed as cultivators needed to work together to farm
• Took hold in northern Kyushu and central to NE Honshu
• started the need for pit dwellings
• however, poor soil and easy chances of erosion didn't favor farming

More organized society

larger communities, not quite urban

pots aren't crazy joomon patterns, but remarkable part of continuity in which older things still get made with new things

Iron used for functional tools while bronze used for ceremonial items

• very intricately designed item that was polished on the other side
• inscribed with pictures and what appears to be writing

bronze bells found buried in large caches

• instruments symbolizing the communal cohesion of scattered villages ruled by diff. elites
• used for farming rituals
• typically showed scenes of everyday life, including fishing, hunting, and threshing grain and what appears to be early evidence of writing

"Kofun" literally means tomb

• gave the age its name by the ten thousand burial mounds (indicated increase/surplus in economic and demographic resources available)
• Keyhole design made for clearly powerful leaders that were buried with many valuable treasures (iron weapons, woodworking and farming tools)
• Also have Haniwa (terracotta statues) that marked fences/boundaries of tomb

terracotta figurines of servants, surrogates of people buried leader regarded with self esteem, animals like steeds, and storage dwellings

• statues showed evidence of bowing already, dancing,  music, royalty