TRENDS IN ARCHAEOLOGY IN FOREIGN COUNTRIESWest Asia
NISHIYAMA Shin’ichi1
This review covers ﬁscal years 2009–2015, which have been among the most turbulent inthe history of West Asian (or Near Eastern) archaeology since the ﬁrst Japanese mission
was dispatched in 1956. For Japan, the turmoil in Syria, which began in 2011, proved
a tipping-point. Before 2011 the country was host to the largest number of Japanese
missions in West Asia; the Syrian civil war brought those archaeological projects to ahalt, however, and imposed pressures on institutions to send those missions elsewhere.
Archaeologists who formerly ran projects in Syria are now obliged to undertake researchin other, less familiar West Asian countries, including Iraqi Kurdistan, and must justify
the aims of these archaeological investigations not only to the public but also to theinstitutions to which the researchers belong.
Furthermore, since some students and young scholars are prohibited or discouragedby their universities from travelling to certain countries, there is real concern amongscholars about not only the current difﬁculty of organizing missions but also rapidlydiminishing opportunities to train students for the future of the discipline. Consequently,
we must continue in our efforts to explain the results and signiﬁcance of our subject areawith ever greater passion to win the understanding of the public and fellow academics
alike.
Around 2015, new technologies, such as UAV and 3D modelling from SfM, wereintroduced into Western Asiatic archaeological ﬁeldwork. It will be important to consider
fully the advantages and shortcomings of these techniques, which are less expensive andso more cost-effective and therefore likely to spread rapidly. While there is uncertainty
as to how these techniques might be utilized academically, it is obvious that thesetechniques hold signiﬁcant potential.
The protection and restoration/conservation of archaeological sites and historicalmonuments in West Asia are topics which have been discussed in Japan since the1980s, and projects in these areas have been conducted. The recent damage imposedon archaeological sites and historical monuments by so-called Islamic State (IS) was a
calculated propaganda tactic aimed at utilizing politically the cultural heritage of Iraq
1 c/o College of Humanities, Chubu University, 1200 Matsumoto-cho, Kasugai City, Aichi 487–8501,

Japan(shin_nishiyama@isc.chubu.ac.jp)

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●●●● AUTHORJAPONICA●●●●
ARCHAEOLOGIAand Syria. The general public and scholars alike have been shocked by the imagesof this destruction, and we may expect increasing requests from local authorities
throughout West Asia for restoration/conservation assistance and help with cultural
heritage documentation, as well as rescue/emergency archaeological projects related todevelopment during the post-conﬂict period. Japanese missions working in West Asia
must be ready in terms of strategies and human relationships to face and meet thesedemands.
The following is a summary of the year’s ﬁeldwork and research. Reports may also
be found in Ancient Orient Revealed though Excavations: Proceedings of the Annual
Meeting of Excavations in West Asia (hereinafter Proceedings) and the Journal of West
Asian Archaeology, both published by the Japanese Society for West Asian Archaeology(est. 1997).

FY 2009
According to the Proceedings, the following reports of ﬁeldwork have been presented:Syria (8), Turkey (1), Jordan (2), Lebanon (2), Israel (2), Oman (1), UAE (1), Azerbaijan(1), Egypt (3), South Asia (1), and Central Asia (2) (a total of 24 projects). The numberof ﬁeld projects in Syria this year was outstanding. Three, conducted between 2005 and2009, were funded by the “Formation of Communities of Semitic Tribes” (JSPS Grantin-Aid for Scientiﬁc Research on Priority Area), which focused on the northern ﬂank of
the Bishri Mountain near al-Raqqah, Central Syria. The remaining ﬁve archaeologicalprojects in Syria were conducted at or in: Tell el-Kerkh (Idlib province), Dederiyeh Cave(Aleppo province), Tell Taban (al-Hasakah province), Tell Seker al-Aheimar (al-Hasakahprovince), and the North Cemetery of Palmyra (Homs province).

FY 2010The Proceedings included reports from the following countries: Syria (8), Turkey (1),Jordan (2), Lebanon (2), Israel (2), Oman (1), UAE (1), Azerbaijan (1), and Egypt (4)(a total of 22 projects). After ﬁscal year 2010 projects in Syria rapidly decreased, andafter 2012 they came to a complete halt. In 2012 the Kaman-Kalehöyük ArchaeologicalMuseum in Turkey was ofﬁcially opened to the public. Together with the nearby
Japanese Institute of Anatolian Archaeology (est. 1998), it now represents one of thelargest Japanese facilities in West Asia. Also, the large-scale project “Replacement ofNeanderthals by Homo sapiens: testing evolutionary models of learning” (JSPS Grantin-Aid for Scientiﬁc Research on Innovative Areas: from FY 2010 to 2014) was initiatedand has already yielded fruitful results on the Palaeolithic period of West Asia.
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IN●●●●FOREIGN COUNTRIESFY 2011
The Proceedings included the following reports: from Syria (3), Turkey (2), Jordan (2),Israel (2), Iran (1), UAE (1), Azerbaijan (1), Egypt (2), Bulgaria (1), South Asia (1), andCentral Asia (2) (a total of 17 projects). This year saw the beginning of the turmoil inSyria; few missions worked, and then mainly in the spring before the situation worsened.

FY 2012The Proceedings included reports from the following: Turkey (3), Jordan (3), Palestine(1), Iran (1), UAE (1), Azerbaijan (1), Egypt (3), Bulgaria (1), South Asia (1), andCentral Asia (2) (a total of 16 projects). Missions to Syria came to a complete halt,
and one new project opened on the Palestinian West Bank. In addition, one large-scale
project commenced: “Ancient West Asian Civilization as the Foundation of all Modern
Civilizations: a counter to the ‘Clash of Civilizations’ theory” (JSPS Grant-in-Aid for
Scientiﬁc Research on Innovative Areas: from FY 2012 to 2016).

FY 2013
The Proceedings included the following reports: for Turkey (3), Jordan (2), Israel (1),Palestine (1), Iraqi Kurdistan (1), Iran (1), Saudi Arabia (1), Oman (1), UAE (1), Azerbaijan(1), Egypt (2), and Central Asia (2) (a total of 18 projects). The opening of a new ﬁeld of
research in Iraqi Kurdistan was reported, and by 2014 the ﬁrst Japanese mission, fromUniversity of Tsukuba, had been dispatched to the area. Meanwhile, ﬁeldworks wereextended into the Arabian Peninsula (including the Gulf) and the Caucasus.

FY 2014
The Proceedings included the following reports: Turkey (1), Jordan (2), Israel (1),Palestine (1), Iraqi Kurdistan (1), Saudi Arabia (1), Oman (1), UAE (1), Azerbaijan (1),Georgia & Armenia (1), Egypt (4), South Asia (1), and Central Asia (3) (a total of 19
projects). The cultural heritage situation in Syria had worsened, and various meetingsand symposiums were held to discuss the matter.

FY 2015
The Proceedings included the following reports: from Turkey (1), Lebanon (1), Israel(1), Palestine (1), Iraqi Kurdistan (2), Bahrain (1), Oman (1), UAE (1), Azerbaijan (1),© Japanese Archaeological Association81

●●●● AUTHORJAPONICA●●●●
ARCHAEOLOGIAArmenia (1), Egypt (6), South Asia (2), and Central Asia (2) (a total of 21 projects). This
year, in December, the Japanese Society for West Asian Archaeology organized the(ﬁrst) International Syrian Congress on Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (ISCACH)
in Beirut, Lebanon. The congress, which was funded by donations from the people ofJapan and by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, was a great success,with the participation of 30 invited colleagues from Syria and some 200 scholars from 15separate countries.

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