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The Jomon way of life seems to have been pretty comfortable. They lived near the sea and they relied on fish as a main source of food, that is, a food that came to them, so they didn't have to move around as land-roaming hunter-gatherers did.
繩紋人似乎生活得挺舒適愜意的。他們當時居住在海邊，所以主要就以捕魚為生，所以就沒必要像世界其他地區的陸地狩豬采集者一樣到處奔波遷徙。
They also had easy access to abundant plants with nuts and seeds, so there was no imperative to domesticate animals or to cultivate particular crops. Perhaps because of this plentiful supply of fish and food, farming took a long time to establish itself in Japan, compared to the rest of the world. Simple agriculture, in the shape of rice, arrived in Japan only two thousand five hundred years ago, but in pots, the Japanese were very much ahead of the game.
同時繩紋人也能很輕松地找到數量又多種類又全的堅果和種子植物，所以也沒必要馴養動物或培育特定的農作物。也許也就是因為這些資源豐富的魚類與充足的其他食品供應，，與世界其他地區相比，農業在日本的建立時間是相當之緩慢。簡單農業，比如稻米的種植，二千五百年前左右才流傳到日本；然而在制造陶器方面，日本的表現絕對是全世界領先了。
Before the discovery of the pot, people stored their food in holes in the ground or in baskets-both vulnerable to thieving creatures and, in the case of the baskets, to wear and to weather. Putting your food in sturdy clay containers that you can cover, keeps freshness in and mice out and, as for the shape and decoration of the new pots-well, having no pottery tradition to learn from, the Jomon looked at what they already had-baskets.
在發明這些陶罐陶缽以前，人類只能將食物儲存在地洞里或者樹皮樹藤編織的籃子里，這樣很容易被老鼠之類小動物偷吃，同時也很受天氣影響。比如籃子吧，磨損得快，也容易受干受潮。但如果把食物放在堅固的粘土容器里，再加上個蓋子，這樣食物不大受天氣影響，老鼠也無從下爪或下嘴了。而且看看這樣新出現盆缽鍋罐上的造型與裝飾，由于制陶是史無前例的新經驗，繩紋人就自然而然借鑒了他們編籃的習慣了。
So it's not surprising that they make pots that look like baskets, and indeed, look like each other. Professor Takashi Doi is Senior Archaeologist at the Agency of Cultural Affairs in Japan:
因此這些陶罐陶缽造型外觀居然那么像籃子，也就毫不奇怪了。日本文化事務局的高級考古學家隆土井教授說道：
'For Jomon people the decorations are derived from what they saw around them in the natural world-the motifs were inspired by trees, plants, shells, animal bones.
“對于繩紋人，這些裝飾花紋的靈感源于他們周遭的大自然界，這些主題都是受到樹木、植物、貝殼、獸骨等等的啟發。
The basic patterns are applied using twisted plant fibres or twisted cords, and there is an amazing variety in the ways you can twist your cords-there is an elaborate regional and chronological sequence that we have identified. Over the years of the Jomon period we can see over four hundred local types or regional styles. You can pin down some of these styles to 25-year time slots, they were so specific with their cord markings.'
最基本的模式是捻搓纏繞的植物纖維或繩索形狀，而捻搓繩索的方式可謂是千變萬化。事實上根據我們已經發現的，那些花紋在相當明顯而精致的區域性與時間順序上的特點。通過觀察整個繩紋文化時代，我們已經發現了四百多種地方類型或者區域風格。你甚至可以根據花紋把時間精確到二十五年左右這樣的時間段。這些人類捻繩的技巧真是爐火純青了。”
As well as making attractive and stylised storage pots, the Jomon must have been also thrilled at the leak-proof, heat-proof properties of their new kitchenware. The menu would have included vegetables and nuts, but they also cooked shellfish-oysters, cockles and clams. Meat was pot-roasted or boiled-and so Japan appears to be the birthplace of the soup and the stew. Simon Kaner again:
除了能創造出好看美觀的儲物罐，那些繩紋人肯定也十分得意于他們這種新型器皿的防漏性與隔熱性。他們的菜單肯定包括了各種蔬菜和堅果，也可能會需要烹煮各種貝類，牡蠣、蛤文蛤等等。肉類也可以用鍋烤或者水煮。所以日本似乎也是湯與燉品的發源地。西蒙康爾又說道：
We're quite lucky they weren't very good at washing up, these guys-and so they've left some carbonised remains of foodstuffs inside these pots, there are black deposits on the interior surfaces.
“我們走運了，看樣子這些繩紋人似乎不太擅長清洗廚具，所以在這些陶罐陶缽里頭還殘留有一些已經碳化了的食物殘渣，就是這種器皿內部表面存留的黑色沉淀物。
