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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.
绳纹人似乎生活得挺舒适惬意的。他们当时居住在海边，所以主要就以捕鱼为生，所以就没必要像世界其他地区的陆地狩猪采集者一样到处奔波迁徙。
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.
同时绳纹人也能很轻松地找到数量又多种类又全的坚果和种子植物，所以也没必要驯养动物或培育特定的农作物。也许也就是因为这些资源丰富的鱼类与充足的其他食品供应，，与世界其他地区相比，农业在日本的建立时间是相当之缓慢。简单农业，比如稻米的种植，二千五百年前左右才流传到日本；然而在制造陶器方面，日本的表现绝对是全世界领先了。
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.
在发明这些陶罐陶钵以前，人类只能将食物储存在地洞里或者树皮树藤编织的篮子里，这样很容易被老鼠之类小动物偷吃，同时也很受天气影响。比如篮子吧，磨损得快，也容易受干受潮。但如果把食物放在坚固的粘土容器里，再加上个盖子，这样食物不大受天气影响，老鼠也无从下爪或下嘴了。而且看看这样新出现盆钵锅罐上的造型与装饰，由于制陶是史无前例的新经验，绳纹人就自然而然借鉴了他们编篮的习惯了。
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:
因此这些陶罐陶钵造型外观居然那么像篮子，也就毫不奇怪了。日本文化事务局的高级考古学家隆土井教授说道：
'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.
“对于绳纹人，这些装饰花纹的灵感源于他们周遭的大自然界，这些主题都是受到树木、植物、贝壳、兽骨等等的启发。
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缠绕的植物纤维或绳索形状，而捻搓绳索的方式可谓是千变万化。事实上根据我们已经发现的，那些花纹在相当明显而精致的区域性与时间顺序上的特点。通过观察整个绳纹文化时代，我们已经发现了四百多种地方类型或者区域风格。你甚至可以根据花纹把时间精确到二十五年左右这样的时间段。这些人类捻绳的技巧真是炉火纯青了。”
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:
除了能创造出好看美观的储物罐，那些绳纹人肯定也十分得意于他们这种新型器皿的防漏性与隔热性。他们的菜单肯定包括了各种蔬菜和坚果，也可能会需要烹煮各种贝类，牡蛎、蛤文蛤等等。肉类也可以用锅烤或者水煮。所以日本似乎也是汤与炖品的发源地。西蒙康尔又说道：
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.
“我们走运了，看样子这些绳纹人似乎不太擅长清洗厨具，所以在这些陶罐陶钵里头还残留有一些已经碳化了的食物残渣，就是这种器皿内部表面存留的黑色沉淀物。
