Examples of magatama fashioned from talc or pyrophyllite from the end of the incipient stage to the beginning of the early stage of the Jomon Period have been discovered, and magatama in the shape of the letter C are known from the middle of the Jomon Period; from the later part through to the end of the Jomon Period, magatama become more complex, and the types of materials from which they were fashioned also became diversified.
縄文時代早期末から前期初頭に滑石や蝋石のものが出現し、縄文中期にはC字形の勾玉が見られ、後期から晩期には複雑化し、材質も多様化する。