Uncontacted contemporaries · 2,161 overlapping years

Elamite Civilization Jomon Culture

For 2,161 years — from 2,700 BCE to 539 BCE — both civilizations existed simultaneously. Neither this dataset nor the historical record shows any documented trade, war, or diplomatic contact between them.

14,000 BCE 300 BCE

Elamite Civilization

2,700 BCE–539 BCE

Jomon Culture

14,000 BCE–300 BCE

↑ Overlap begins, 2,700 BCE

Elamite Civilization

Southwestern Iran

A persistent Near Eastern power whose political and cultural identity endured for over two millennia alongside Mesopotamia's empires.

Jomon Culture

Japanese archipelago

A remarkably long-lived hunter-gatherer culture in Japan, notable for producing some of the world's earliest pottery long before agriculture took hold.

Traits both developed independently

With no documented contact, any shared trait below represents independent development rather than transmission from one to the other.

Long-distance trade

Elamite Civilization only

Monumental architecture
Bronze metallurgy
Iron metallurgy
Irrigation agriculture
Standing army
Urban planning

Jomon Culture only

Seafaring