Members

Associate professor，Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences，Hirosaki University

[Specialization]

Prehistoric archaeology

[Research in the past]

My theme concerns the change in food culture, analyzing the food processing technology used in the East Asia Neolithic age. My field area concerns Japan, China, Korea, Russia, and El Salvador. My study method focuses on wear analysis of stone tools, starch analysis, and model building through experiments and observation of folk materials.

[My role in this research]

I will elucidate the change from wild vegetation use to cultivation of vegetables through observation of polished stone tools and stoneware found in downstream Yangtze. I use a microscope and pipette at the site. I also work on production and perform form analyses of starchy specimens of unearthed seeds.

[Major methodology]

Use wear refers to traces that are created on stone tools when they are used. We observe these traces by examining tools at a micro-level using a microscope. It is possible to compare the results with data obtained through experiments and folk materials and discover how the tools were used and their purpose.

[Major methodology]

Starch is a carbohydrate and natural polymer. The shape and nature of starchy grain differ depending on the kind of plant it originates from. If it is detected on a polished stone tool, the grain that it came from may be discerned. When you image starch, it is usually found to be decomposed immediately in the ground, but when a microorganism is found in a good preservation environment, starch is found to remain intact. In recent years, successive cases of starch detection have been made at various sites around the world. These relate to traces of potatoes and beans, and through these techniques, we can discover what the vegetables were used for.

[Achievements concerned to this field]

上条信彦「膠東地区史前時期農耕石器使用微痕分析」「山東半島磨盤与磨棒的使用微痕及淀粉分析」「以膠東半島為中心的石器群」欒豊実　宮本一夫主編『海岱地区早期稲作農業与人類学研究』科学出版社,2008年（中国語）
上條信彦「円筒土器文化圏における食料加工技術の研究―礫石器の使用痕分析および残存デンプン粒分析を中心に―」『特別史跡 三内丸山遺跡年報』13号,pp.61‐ 78 ，2010年
上条信彦「考古学における残存デンプン分析の有効性」『漢江考古』7号,pp.125‐146 ，2011年
上條信彦,孫晙鎬「使用痕・残存デンプンからみた韓国青銅器時代の磨盤・磨棒」『中央考古研究』9号，pp.1-48 ，2011年
上條信彦2015『縄文時代における脱殻・粉砕技術の研究』六一書房