Okamura, an archaeologist, based his periodization on the degree of adapting to sedentary life: he assumed that the Jomon people built dwellings and set up garbage dump sites from the incipient period to the earlier period, however, they lived in a semi-sedentary life, didn't always have dwellings, and lived a nomadic life depending upon the season.
考古学者の岡村は、定住化の程度で時期区分すると草創期から早期半ば頃までは住居とゴミ捨て場が設置されるが、住居をもたなかったり、季節によって移動生活を送るなどの半定住段階であると想定している。