Visualizing Prehistoric People in Japan
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2019-05-03

Full title: Visualizing Prehistoric People in Japan: From the perspective of sociology of archaeological knowledge 

In Japan, popular visualizations of the remote past began in the modern era, the end of 19th century, coinciding roughly with the introduction of archaeology and anthropology was from Western countries. This paper examines the transitions in how prehistoric people were visualized in Japan from these beginnings and up to the present. It raises several key terms and provides a comprehensive framework to grasp the image-production process. This kind of analysis tends to focus on the interactions between archaeology and society, regarding each as a collective body. In contrast, this paper attends to a more detailed unit, that of the actors’ network surrounding the visualization of prehistoric people. In this case, the term actor includes human and non-humans such as the individuals producing images, archaeological discoveries, the political climate, and the drawings themselves. Visualizations of prehistoric people mainly reflect the changes in Japanese political climate which affected archaeological practices from before and during the war to post-war era, it shows the diversity of actors involved, and highlights interactions with Western archaeology. Conversely, it is a key to understanding the broader ways in which archaeology influences society. 

Yasuyuki Yoshida (Kanazawa University)