The perverse realities of change: world system incorporation and the Okhotsk culture of Hokkaido Mark J. Hudson Department of Northern Cultures, and Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University, N9, W7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0809, Japan Received 6 January 2004; revised 24 March 2004 Available online 7 July 2004 Abstract This paper considers the interplay between human adaptation and political economy in the context of the Okhotsk culture of Hokkaido (c. AD 550–1200). Although it flourished at a time of great change and expansion in the East Asian world system, it is argued that the Okhotsk managed to resist incorporation by that system until its final stages. The resistance to world system domination shown by the Okhotsk people, however, does not mean that they were isolated from macroregional developments. The biocultural reproduction of Okhotsk society cannot be understood only in terms of ecological adaptation but must be placed in the context of the Northeast Asian political economy. Ó 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Japan; Hokkaido; Okhotsk culture; World systems theory; Incorporation; Bioarchaeology; Subsistence change; Gender; Households; Trade Previous research on the prehistoric maritime cul- tures of the north Pacific has tended to focus primarily on questions of ecology and adaptation (e.g., Fitzhugh, 1975; McCartney, 1974; Okada, 1998; Watanabe, 1966). On the Asian side of the Pacific, it has been accepted for some time that state societies probably had a significant influence on coastal foragers (e.g., Amano, 1977) and this is seen as a major difference between North- east Asian and North American maritime cultures (Schweitzer, 2003, p. 97; Workman and McCartney, 1998, p. 367). There has, however, so far been little re- search on the political economy of prehistoric foragers in Northeast Asia—in contrast to later historical periods where such work is becoming increasingly common (e.g., Sasaki, 1999; Walker, 2001). In this paper I discuss the Okhotsk culture that spread from Sakhalin into north- eastern Hokkaido and the Kuril Islands in the first millennium AD. The area occupied by the Okhotsk is commonly perceived as a harsh environment with sub- zero winter temperatures and sea ice blocking much of the coast from January to March; the concept of ad- aptation to this ‘‘difficult’’ environment has thus been more important than elsewhere in Japanese archaeology. This paper takes this concern with adaptation as a point of departure but attempts to place Okhotsk adaptations within the political economy of medieval Northeast Asia. The Okhotsk is an unusual phenomenon in Japanese prehistory in that it is the only known intrusive culture that remained separate from other groups for a long period. The separate cultural identity of the Okhotsk is especially noteworthy given its linear, coastal area of settlement. Although it maintained itself as a distinct culture for perhaps 600 years, however, in Hokkaido and the Kurils the Okhotsk was replaced or assimilated by Satsumon/Ainu groups by the 12th century (Table 1). In this paper, my main interest is in the relationship between the ‘‘separateness’’ of the Okhotsk and the E-mail address: mjhudson@slav.hokudai.ac.jp. 0278-4165/$ - see front matter Ó 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2004.05.002 Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 23 (2004) 290–308 www.elsevier.com/locate/jaa