Report on the 81st Annual General Meeting of theJapanese Archaeological Association
DAIKUHARA Yutaka1ABSTRACTThis short essay reports the proceedings and some highlights of the 81st Annual Meeting of theJapanese Archaeological Association, held on May 23 and 24, 2015, at Teikyo University.

The Annual General Meeting (Fiscal Year 2015) for the Japanese Archaeological
Association was held at Teikyo University, Tokyo, 23–24 May 2015. The event wassuccessfully held due to meticulous preparations led by Professor Asaei Abe, Head of theExecutive Committee, who coordinated former and current archaeology students of theuniversity to assist with the meeting. This was the ﬁrst time that the general meeting washeld at Teikyo University.
Meetings of the directors and the Committee for Conservation of Cultural Properties
were held a day earlier on 22 May. On 23 May, the general meeting and Session 1 with
ﬁve presentations were held in Building 17, Room 1723. A welcome party followed
in Choyukan party room. On 24 May, four sets of parallel oral presentations (35presentations), four and four sets of parallel lecture sessions (37 presentations) and aposter session (24 presentations) took place in Building 17. A book exchange meeting
was also held in the students’ lounge and students’ hall in the campus. There were atotal of 1408 participants, of which 382 individuals (291 members, 91 non-members)
participated in the event on 23 May and 1,026 individuals (649 members, 377 nonmembers) participated in the event on 24 May. With regard to the number of association
members, there were 4,149 members at the end of 28 March; 28 members had passed
away and 45 members had retired in the previous year.
The general meeting began with a moment of silence for the 28 deceased members,including former Presidents Koichi Tamura and Yoshiyuki Tanaka. This was followedby an inaugural address by President Hiroaki Takakura. In this address, he explained
the amendments made during the previous year to the Associations’ articles as ageneral incorporated association, announced the Association’s policies for the Great
East Japan Earthquake relief assistance, and discussed issues related to the re-housingof the books donated to the Association since its foundation and difﬁculties related
to internationalization. Next, Yoshihito Okinaga, President of Teikyo University and1 Committee

Member (General Affairs), The Japanese Archaeological Associaiton, 4th Floor, 5–15–5
Hirai, Edogawa Ward, Tokyo 132–0035, Japan (jjarch@archaeology.jp)
Category: Report (Solicited) Received: 8 February 2016
JAPANESE JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 3 (2016): 117–120

DAIKUHARA Yutaka

Professor Asaei Abe, Head of the Executive Committee, presented their welcome
addresses. The emcee then announced that the requirements for the general meeting had
been met. This announcement was followed with an explanation of the changes made to
the general meeting’s proceedings based on amendments to the Association’s articles.
Accordingly, the President was to chair the meeting. The chairperson then named thevice-chairperson and the secretary, after which the meetings proceedings (reports andother matters) commenced.
First, ‘The 5th Japanese Archaeological Association Awards,’ an announcements,approvals, and awards presentation, were held. The associations’ Award Selection
Committee recommended member Koji Mizoguchi’s ‘The Archaeology of Japan’ for
the Grand Prize and member Tomoko Nagatomo’s ‘The Development of Earthenware
Production in Yayoi Period’ and member Tomoya Aono’s ‘The Archaeology of theSocial Function of Graves’ for the Encouragement Prizes. The meeting approved theserecommendations and these individuals were presented with the respective awards. Thiswas followed by ‘Announcement and Approval of Review of Eligibility for Admission
into the Association.’ The Head of the Committee for Review of Eligibility for admission
into the Association announced that 58 people had fulﬁlled the eligibility conditions
this year. These people were then approved and immediately registered as members.
Member Shun Sato (Fukushima Prefecture) addressed the gathering on behalf of the newmembers with regard to their future plans.
Next, the 2014 business report was presented. First, there was a presentationon activities such as general meetings, conferences, courses, directors’ meetings,
annual reports, and the ofﬁcial journals (Japanese and English-language). Next, thefollowing committees presented their reports: Ryobo (Imperial mousolea), the Research
Environment Review Committee, the Public Relations Committee, the International
Exchange Committee, the Social Sciences and History Textbooks Review Committee, theBuried Cultural Properties Conservation Committee, the Great East Japan Earthquake
Relief Special Committee, the Association Books Review Subcommittee, the Rules andRegulations Revision and Review Committee, and the Science Council of Japan. TheRules and Regulations Revision and Review Committee reported that regulations andinternal rules for honorary membership had been devised. These regulations allow theAssociation to recommend and admit honorary members. Furthermore, the committee
presented the ‘regulations for the supporting membership category (proposal)’ and‘internal rules for the supporting membership category (proposal),’ and announced that
it will continue to review these proposals. Moreover, members determined that there
can be three types of supporting membership: corporate, friendship, and student. The
corporate and friendship memberships can include groups and individuals who wish toprovide continuous support to the Association’s activities, whereas student membership© Japanese Archaeological Association118

REPORT ON THE 81 ST ANNUAL MEETING

can include students involved in archaeological research at the graduate and postgraduate levels in the universities. These proposals are being reviewed with the aim of
expanding the scope of the Japanese Archaeological Association’s framework. Next, theactivities and budget planned for 2015 were announced. Due to of the amendment of theAssociation’s articles, it was decided that the budget requires directors’ approvals fromthis year forward and will therefore be announced at the general meeting.
The meeting then moved to other necessary matters. The Director for Financeexplained the balance sheet, the statement of changes in net assets, and the special
accounting report related to donations received in 2014 for the Great East Japan
Earthquake. Then, the auditors’ report was presented, approving that it was legal andaccurate. A question-answer session was then held, following which the budget waspassed and the meeting was concluded.
The gathering was also informed that a press conference would be held on 25
May at the Association’s ofﬁce, at which the President planned to make a statement
concerning the proposed destruction of Takaosan Tumulus in Numazu City and its insitu preservation.
On the same afternoon, Professor Asaei Abe of Teikyo University gave the keynote
lecture ‘Children of the Early Man.’ He presented an overview of research on the living
environment of children during the early hominin stage in Africa, the causes for their
deaths, and the social structure. He introduced examples of children drowning becauseof natural calamities or being preyed upon by members of the large cat family or birdsof prey, as the children were small in size and could not move swiftly. He also presented
possible archaeological evidence of polygamy and monogamy in early humans and argued
that further investigations were necessary to make concrete reconstruction as to how
children lived and grew up during the early hominin stage. This was followed by Session
1, ‘Archaeology of Children.’ The panelists presented papers on the lives of children in
the Palaeolithic, Jomon, Yayoi, and ancient periods. After the session, the participants
adjourned to the welcome party and engaged in lively and enjoyable conversations.
On 24 May, oral presentations were held at four different venues in the morningand afternoon. Of the 35 total presentations, nine each took place in Venues 1, 2, and3, while eight took place in Venue 4. There were seven sessions in all. Five researchpresentations were made in Session 2, ‘The Frontlines of Research on the Appearanceof Current Humans (Homo Sapiens) on the Japanese Archipelago,’ and six researchpresentations were made in Session 3, ‘Chronology and Cultural Changes from Initial
to Pre-early Jomon Period.’ Six presentations were made in Session 4 ‘Investigation ofBuried Sculptures in Chieftain Tombs in the Late Kofun Period – Focusing on Joyama
Tumulus No. 1 in Chiba Prefecture,’ whereas four presentations were made in Session
5, ‘Archaeological Classiﬁcation by Mathematical Analysis and Innovation in the Social© Japanese Archaeological Association

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Development Theory.’ Session 6 was held in collaboration with the Osteoarcheology
Society, Anthropological Society of Nippon. Six presentations were made in this session
titled ‘Adjusting to Island Environment and Group Formation – Hints from a Survey ofTwo Ruins in Hamanaka, Rebun Island.’ Session 7, ‘Five Years from the Great East Japan
Earthquake – Issues in Recovery Survey, Large-scale Disaster and Archaeology’ wasconducted by the Great East Japan Earthquake Relief Special Committee; it consisted ofsix presentations. Furthermore, there were four presentations in Session 8, ‘Ten Years ofArchaeological Property Conservation System and the Future’ which was conducted by
the Archaeological Property Conservation Committee.
A poster session with twenty-four posters was held, with the core presentation time
designated between 1 to 2 p.m. Lively question-answer exchanges took place.
120 groups and individuals took part in the book exchange session held at a separatevenue. There were 132 tables (102 members with 105 tables, 18 companies with 27tables). The atmosphere was lively as is the case every year and a large number of books
and journals, many of which are published locally with invaluable information of thearchaeologies of respective regions, were exchanged. The activity was more participantfriendly this year because it was held in a large, spacious venue.
This year’s general meeting was held successfully with a large number of participants.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Teikyo University for all of their support.
I also would like to thank the Conference Executive Committee members and students
for their efforts.

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