Stone tools may be oldest found in Japan

MATSUE--Archaeologists say 20 stone artifacts uncovered near here in a geological layer from 120,000 years ago are likely the oldest paleolithic tools to be found in Japan.

The discovery was announced Tuesday by Kazuto Matsufuji, a professor of paleolithic archaeology at Doshisha University in Kyoto, who led the team of researchers.

The site, called the Sunabara remains, is in Izumo, Shimane Prefecture. It dates from the Middle Paleolithic period (130,000 years to 35,000 years ago). Excavation work began Sept. 16.

The artifacts may have been crafted 30,000 years earlier than stone tools found at the Kanedori site in Tono, Iwate Prefecture, which previously were regarded as Japan's oldest, from about 90,000 years ago.

Researchers said the latest discovery could shed valuable light on human settlement in prehistoric times.

The group started the survey after a topographer in Izumo found a stone with a sharpened edge in a cliff with exposed layers in August.

Researchers said the stone tools were found in a layer between a stratum of volcanic ash spewed out by Mount Sanbesan about 110,000 years ago and a sand gravel stratum dating back 128,000 years.

The artifacts range in length from 1.5 centimeters to 5 cm.

"The stone tools each show traces of people having worked on them," Matsufuji said.

"Furthermore, rocks from the layer from which they were dug out are mostly andesitic, quite different from quartzite and rhyolite used for the tools.

"For this reason, we think the tools may have been brought in from somewhere else," he said.

Other archaelogists had mixed reactions to the new finds.

Fumiaki Takehiro, an associate professor at Hiroshima University's graduate school, agreed the stone tools were likely fashioned by humans and welcomed the discovery as helping to enlighten researchers on this period of history.

But Takashi Inada, a professor emeritus at Okayama University, said more research is needed before concluding the finds are indeed tools crafted by humans.

Research into Japan's paleolithic era has been stalled since 2000, when Shinichi Fujimura, an amateur archaeologist deemed preeminent in the field, was exposed for having faked important discoveries.(IHT/Asahi: October 1,2009)