Introduction to the core of the Archaeology Collection: Artifacts from the Kantou and Northeastern Regions

Human civilization has been constantly changing and developing since its birth, but even as society changes, material remains are left behind to be discovered in the future. Articles of daily life, tools, and crafts can be used to track the changes experienced by a society over a long period of time. Cultural exchange between different regions can also be tracked. Archaeology is the science of extracting a historical narrative from material artifacts.

              The core of this museum’s collection was collected by Professors Hiroshi Takaguchi and Masae Nishimura. The artifacts are from Japan’s Jomon, Yayoi and Kofun periods. These articles were uncovered according to rigorous scientific procedure, and are a valuable resource for the study of the ancient past. Each artifact was carefully catalogued and described for posterity immediately after it was excavated. The excavations were carried out by the two above mentioned professors, with the collaboration of countless students and researchers. The artifacts were mostly collected between 1926 and 1965.

              Professor Nishimura is especially noted for his study of the Jomon Period. His surveys cover more than thirty ruins and shell mounds, including ruins in northeastern Aomori Prefecture and Hosono in Iwate Prefecture and shell mounds in Takonoura and the Tonegawa river basin in the Kantou region.

              Before Nishimura’s work, the Jomon Period shell mounds had not been investigated. He determined the age of the earthenware he discovered by applying the principles of stratigraphy. By this method, objects buried deeper in the ground, in older layers of rock or soil, are older than the objects buried in the newer ground above them. Nishimura was in this way able to construct a chronology of the Jomon Period. Some of the artifacts he excavated are examples of the famous straw rope pattern pottery which gave the Jomon Period its name. Other artifacts from the shell mounds include fragments of bone or other organic matter, everyday objects, objects related to trade, religious and festival objects and jewelry. These artifacts were once part of a living culture, and in them it is still possible to feel the spirit of their original owners.

              Around the same time as Professor Nishimura was conducting his excavations, Professor Takaguchi was working in tombs in Mashiko in Tochigi Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, and in the ancient prefectures of Kazusa and Musashi. He also worked in tombs and temple grounds in the Kantou region, where he uncovered armor, iron swords, iron arrow-heads, mirrors, horse gear, earrings and burial accesories dated to the Kofun (Tumulus) Period, as well as temple roof-tiles from the Nara and Heian Periods. These artifacts are valuable contributions to the study of archaeology.

              During Waseda University’s recent development, many artifacts have been discovered and excavated. After the old baseball stadium was demolished, ruins were discovered underneath. The ruins included the heaped up remains of a Yayoi village, and traces of an ancient mansion. On Waseda University’s Tokorozawa campus, relics from ancient and medieval periods were discovered.

              Our collection also includes Dynasty Period artifacts excavated by Waseda students in Egypt and other artifacts discovered in China. These foreign artifacts, as well as artifacts excavated from Waseda University’s campus travel to museums around the world, and are highly prized as archaeological treasures both in and out of Japan.

Japanese by Mitsuzane Okauchi and Ryuzaburou Takahashi