Japanese Paleolithic

The Japanese Paleolithic period (旧石器時代, kyūsekki jidai^?) is the period of human inhabitation in Japan that lasted from around 40,000 BC to 14,000 BC, which corresponds to the beginning of the Mesolithic Jōmon period. The 35,000 BC date is most generally accepted: Any date of human presence before 35,000 BC is controversial, with artifacts supporting a pre-35,000 BC human presence on the archipelago being of questionable authenticity.

The earliest human bones were discovered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka. Radiocarbon dating has shown that the fossils date back to around 14,000–18,000 years ago.

The Japanese Paleolithic is also unique in that it incorporates the earliest known ground stone tools and polished stone tools in the world, dated to around 30,000 BC, a technology typically associated with the beginning of the Neolithic, around 10,000 BC, in the rest of the world. It is not known why such tools were created so early in Japan, although the period is associated with a warmer climate worldwide (30,000–20,000 before present), and the islands may have particularly benefited from it.

Because of this originality, the Japanese Paleolithic period in Japan does not exactly match the traditional definition of Paleolithic based on stone technology (chipped stone tools). Japanese Paleolithic tool implements thus display Mesolithic and Neolithic traits as early as 30,000 BC.

The Paleolithic populations of Japan, as well as the later Jōmon populations, appear to relate to an ancient Paleo-Asian group which occupied large parts of Asia before the expansion of the populations characteristic of today's people of China, Korea, and Japan.

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