Did the Jomon people keep any pets?

The Jomon people kept and used dogs in hunting, and possibly as pack animals for carrying loads. We know the dogs were not eaten by the Jomon people (by examining their kitchen middens or kitchen dumping site). Dogs were probably special members of Jomon society because many dogs had proper burials. Human footprints and dog paw prints were found inside several excavated ruins of  3,000 year old Jomon pit houses in Shiga prefecture. This has scholars convinced that the Jomon people kept dogs as pets.

Studies comparing DNA of Jomon dogs and 6 breeds of Japanese native dogs show that Japanese native dogs are likely descended from the Jomon dog of prehistoric times. DNA studies also show that among the native Japanese dog breeds, the Shiba dog has the lowest genetic diversity and thus is most likely to be directly descended from ancient prehistoric breeds. Jomon dogs were smaller than today’s Shiba dog and other native breeds.

The ancestors of the Jomon dogs were likely among the earliest ancestors of modern dogs around the world. A recent DNA study shows that humans first bred domesticated dogs sometime around 15,000 years ago in east Asia. The study also shows that 95 percent of dogs from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Arctic regions of North America were descended from three original female ancestors in East Asia from whose offspring then spread throughout the world along with migrating humans or through trade.

Another animal the Jomon might have domesticated is the wild boar. Boar remains were not found in Sado Island or Izu Island before 7,000 BC so boars were not native to the Izu islands or Sado island before this date.  Because boars cannot swim, archaeologists know that the Jomon people carried the animals over to the islands in their dugouts or rafts and bred them over there.

It was traditionally believed that horses first appeared during the Kofun period, when they were introduced from Korea for riding and warfare. Recently, horse remains found in over 500 Jomon sites have undergone examination. The earliest of the horse remains, many of which were found in Jomon shellmound sites, date back to the Late Jomon period. These horses were ancestors of the present day Kiso wild horse of Japan. It is speculated that they might have been domesticated, at least by the Yayoi period, as an examination of bone fossils showed they were larger by the Yayoi period.