ARCHAEOLOGIA JAPONICA

Overview
TSUJI Hideto1
Fiscal 2020 saw the full-force spread of the novel corona virus infection. In the world ofarchaeology, many conventions, conferences and symposia were canceled or postponed formany academic societies including the Japanese Archaeological Association. While faceto-face exchanges of opinion were restricted and opportunities for research presentations
were lost, the study of Japanese Archaeology continued steadily, achieving many results asmentioned in the following.
For the Paleolithic, the origin of humanity in the Japanese archipelago, that is, existenceof the Lower/Middle Paleolithic was discussed, without reaching an articulate conclusion.
As for the transitional period from the Paleolithic to Jomon period, there was a discussion
on the relationship between climate change and aspects of artifacts. Use-wear study onlithic continues.
For the Jomon period, the emergence of pottery was pursued, and wide-area chronology
was constructed. Results were achieved from attributive analysis of substances remaining
in pottery in order to pursue the diet of the Jomon people.
For the Yayoi period, while there was the spread of an understanding that the beginningof the Yayoi period goes back several hundred years earlier than was once thought, actual
images of the Yayoi period were pursued. Also discussed were the nature of highland
settlements, grave systems, funeral rituals, stone materials, and supply relationship of beads.
For the Kofun period, discussed were the relationship between the Yamato sovereignty
and regional powers, regional development of mounded tombs, relationship with migrants,
and so on. Horizontal graves and burial processes were examined, and for artifacts,
discussed were sankakuen-shinjukyo (mirrors with triangular rims and sacred animalmotifs), haniwa (clay ﬁgurines), Haji wares, imported goods, and so on.
For the ancient, study on castle towns (tojo) was conducted vigorously. A comprehensive
collection of theses on Naniwanomiya was published, providing the foundation of tojo
study. Research results on each region’s provincial oﬃce (kokufu) were compiled,indicating the terminus of the study. Other than the above, discussed were transportation,
temples, handicraft production, migrants, and so on.
For the medieval, many excavation surveys were conducted. Aeronautical laser surveys
1 Faculty of Letters, Tohoku Gakuin University, 1–3–1 Tsuchitoi, Aoba-ku, Sendai City, Miyagi 980–8511, Japan(tuji@mail.tohoku-gakuin.ac.jp)

JAPANESE JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 10 (2022): 36–37© Japanese Archaeological Association

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JAPANESE JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 10 (2022): 36–37

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IN ARCHAEOLOGY
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were exploited, to grasp the complete image of citadels. Also discussed were stone
structures and imported ceramics.
For the early modern, the full picture of a village buried under a mudﬂow is getting
clear. Also examined were ceramic production of each domestic kilns, and distributionof Chinese ceramics. As for the modern era, Takanawa Embarkment, an embarkment ofa railroad constructed in the Meiji period was discovered in an excellent condition. It isan extremely signiﬁcant features to remind the look of the Meiji period Japan, and its
preservation is desired.
Thus, ﬁscal 2020 Japanese archaeological study saw summarization and systemizationof individual research and comparative study of regions in order to create compositehistorical images, based on abundant accumulation of individual research.

© Japanese Archaeological Association37