It was once thought that the human habitation of the Japanese archipelago began during the Jōmon period (approximately between 13,000 and 500 BC) This view changed however, with the discovery of Paleolithic sites on the archipelago, which stretched the occupation of Japan by human beings as far back as 30,000 BC. One source even suggests that humans might have inhabited the Japanese islands as far back as 50,000 BC. The first of these Paleolithic sites that was rediscovered is a site known as Iwajuku.
The Discovery of Iwajuku
The study of the Japanese Paleolithic period is said to have only begun relatively recently. It was shortly after the end of the Second World War that the first Japanese Paleolithic site, Iwajuku, was discovered. Prior to this discovery, no Japanese Paleolithic sites had been known to exist. This site is located in Midori, which is situated in the Gunma Prefecture of Honshu’s Kantō region. It was in 1949 that Iwajuku was excavated by archaeologists, though some artifacts were said to have been found at that site three years before that.
Excavating Iwajuku. (Kiryu International Exchange Association)