SPECIAL SECTION: 100 YEARS OF JAPANESEARCHAEOLOGY (Japanese Archaeological AssociationSymposium at The Eighth World Archaeological
Congress in Kyoto, August 28, 2016)
The Eighth World Archaeological Congress (WAC-8 Kyoto) was held in Kyoto between
28 August and 2 September 2016. The Japanese Archaeological Association (JAA)
co-organised the Congress with the Local Organising Committee and the World
Archaeological Congress. The JAA organised the Opening Symposium that charted
the history of modern archaeology in Japan since the foundation of the Department ofArchaeology at Kyoto Imperial University exactly 100 years ago. This special section
features the papers presented at the symposium, with Introduction by the Convenor,Proefssor Kazuo Miyamoto.

The objectives of the session: 100 years of Japanesearchaeology
MIYAMOTO Kazuo1
Modern archaeology in Japan started in 1916 with the establishment of the Departmentof Archaeology at Kyoto Imperial University. This current year, in that sense, can besaid to mark the 100th anniversary of the foundation of Japanese archaeology. In thisopening session of WAC8, we would like to give an overview of the history of Japanesearchaeology, which was introduced via modern archaeology from Europe and America.
However, Japanese archaeology has own particular academic focuses and forms ofheritage management for cultural properties. In addition, Japanese archaeology facesa unique set of issues surrounding natural disasters and the indigenous Ainu peoples.
Here, we would like to discuss Japanese archaeology in terms of its history, heritage
management and other key issues.
We will begin by introducing the history of Japanese archaeology before World War
1 c/o Faculty of Humanities, Kyushu University, 6–19–1 Hakozaki, Higashi Ward, Fukuoka 821–8581,

Japan (miyamoto@lit.kyushu-u.ac.jp)
Category: Review Article (solicited) Received: 24 October 2016
JAPANESE JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 4 (2017): 155–156

MIYAMOTO Kazuo

Two. This period marks the beginnings of modern archaeology in Japan. In addition,colonial archaeology was also conducted in Korea and China. Although there were very
few archeologists in Japan at that time, some independent researchers had already started
studying archeological materials.
After World War Two, Japan shifted from imperialism to democracy. As part of thisdemocratic movement, archaeology played an important role in helping people recover
their history. In 1948, the Japanese Archaeological Association was established on
the initiative of Japanese archeologists. We will provide an overview of this society’sactivities and signiﬁcance later on.
Now that Japan had become a democratic nation, its people began to pay much more
attention to archeological sites in their local areas. By the 1970s and beginning of the1980s, Japan had established the most organized system for protecting cultural properties
in the world. Today, we would like to talk about the heritage management of Japanesecultural properties.
The Ainu are an indigenous people of Japan. As with the indigenous peoples ofAmerica and Australia, Ainu archaeology is an important issue. As such, we will discusscurrent issues in Ainu archaeology.
In the past two decades, Japan has experienced two major natural disasters: the ﬁrst
in Kobe in 1995, and the second in the Tohoku region in 2011. And then, in 2016 theKumamoto area of Kyushu was hit by a series of powerful earthquakes. These disasters
caused not only a great loss of life along with damage to infrastructures and buildings,
but also affected cultural properties. In the course of regenerating cities, we have been
faced with the need for unparalleled rescue archaeology operations. Today, therefore, wewill also make mention of the challenges presented to Japanese archaeology by naturaldisasters.

© Japanese Archaeological Association156