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Japanese Archaeology Today: New Developments, Structural Undermining, and Prospects for Disaster Archaeology

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Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology

Abstract

Contemporary Japanese archaeology is an exciting research field with extremely rich data, resulting in many applications of various new scientific techniques that have significantly advanced the study of Japanese archaeology. In particular, numerous rescue (salvage) excavations since the 1970s have produced a large body of archaeological data. Underlying these practices is the fact that archaeology in Japan is defined as a sub-discipline of not anthropology but, rather, of history. Contemporary Japanese archaeology also has well-established heritage management systems, but the systems have inextricably been linked to rapid economic growth and large-scale land developments since the 1960s. The history of the close collaboration between archaeologists and developers, combined with the decline of funding and changes in the overall sociopolitical climate, has led to unwelcome structural changes that can threaten the original goals of public archaeology and a nuanced discussion of local history. This chapter offers an overview of the sociopolitical contexts of Japanese archaeology over the past several decades, analyzes recent structural changes in rescue work in relation to changing political climates, and discusses the impacts of the Great East Japan (or Tohoku) Earthquake of March 11, 2011 on archaeological practice. By presenting these issues, this chapter highlights the characteristics of contemporary Japanese archaeology and addresses the questions of why we study archaeology and how archaeologists might engage themselves with contemporary social and environmental concerns through their research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Junko Habu

  2. Higashi-Yodogawa Research Center, Osaka City Cultural Properties Association, Osaka, Japan

    Katsuyuki Okamura

Authors
  1. Junko Habu
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  2. Katsuyuki Okamura
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Correspondence to Junko Habu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA

    Junko Habu

  2. Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Peter V. Lape

  3. School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA

    John W. Olsen

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Habu, J., Okamura, K. (2017). Japanese Archaeology Today: New Developments, Structural Undermining, and Prospects for Disaster Archaeology. In: Habu, J., Lape, P., Olsen, J. (eds) Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6521-2_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6521-2_2

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