Archaeological research
These research pages introduce work related to various aspects of Jomon life (see menu at left), the work of individual authors (as time permits), and the many different organisations, universities and companies involved in Jomon archaeological research. Short commentaries or essays by other authors are welcome here (please enquire!) (PJM 20.5.04).
Need help with translating Japanese?
It is probably safe to say that 99.99% of information on Jomon archaeological discoveries is only availiable in Japanese. If you have found a Japanese text that you would like to have translated, look for volunteer and professional translators at The Research Cooperative, or go to the Japan Association of Translators (JAT) or the Society of Writers, Editors and Translators (SWET).
What is archaeology?
We dig, dig, and then dig again. As farmers in our fields, as engineers for roads and railway lines and tunnels, as builders of apartments and factories.
Sometimes we look at the dirt and make up stories about it. Not all dirt is the same. Every particle has a different story, and we have to see each particle in its context. This is not always easy. Sometimes we see only a mass of dirt and do not realise what it contains. We may be blinded by assumptions or ignorance.
Many of us just walk around with our eyes looking up or about and not often at the ground. If we do look down, all we see is concrete, or tar, or just plain dirt. They might notice broken glass or cigarette butts. We usually see only the present, or the very recent past.
An archaeologist sees a window to the distant past, a way of learning from our ancestors. Of course, not only archaeologists see the past in the landscapes around us. Marked stones in cemeteries are used in many societies to help maintain links with the past. The markers can also be natural stones, water sources, areas of forest, and other landscape elements. Farmers may look at particular trees planted by previous generations, or walls, or ditches. In a broad sense, archaeology has always existed, but it is only in recent centuries that it has become a distinct and systematic science.
Archaeology is however not just a science, it is also a social and cultural activity that attracts (or repels) many different kinds of people, for many different reasons. How archaeology is carried out and perceived in different parts of the world is itself an important subject of research.
The present author is personally interested in how the material remains of life in the past survive, and their interpretation in realistic and meaningful ways. (PJM 8/3/03).
