Japanese Paleolithic Hoax - Fujimura's Success

Fujimura's Success

Fujimura had begun faking discoveries when he was working as an amateur archaeologist in the 1970s, when he became close to various paleolithic research groups in Miyagi Prefecture. He found numerous artifacts and relics in quick succession, all from the Japanese Paleolithic era. Some researchers were initially sceptical of Fujimura's finds, as there was little expectation that stone tools of such an age would be found in Japan. However, Fujimura's success in finding artifacts soon silenced his critics, and his reputation as a leading amateur archaeologist was firmly established by the early 1980s. He was seen as an indispensable member of any archaeological team, with some going so far as to describe him as "devine hand".

Fujimura's remarkable successes generated an enormous amount of indirect involvement from supporting organizations. Some of his archaeological dig sites, notably Zazaragi, were designated as national historical sites by the Japanese government, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs sponsored special exhibitions. Local governments in the Tōhoku region, where many of the sites were located, used Fujimura's "findings" as the basis for creating specialty products and tourist attractions to augment the local economy.

Small number of professional archaeologists cast doubt on Fujimura's finds but this was not widespread, allowing Fujiura to continue his fraud. A critical paper was published in 1986, noting among other points that "the TL dates from Zazaragi are additional indicators that something is wrong with the geological context of the artifacts, at least at that site. The dates for Strata 4, 6c, and 8 are totally out of line". In 1990, Michio Okamura published a book on the Paleolithic which debunked the supposed Early Paleolithic culture. Three more papers were published in 1998 and 2000. The thrust of the argument in 2000 was that the problematic paleolithic findings were "odd" compared to other lower and middle paleolithic findings.