Japanese Researchon Andean Prehistory

JapaneseJapaneseSociety Society of Cultural Anthropology Japanese Review of Culturat AnthropolDgy, vol.3, 2002 Japanese Research on Andean Prehistory ONuKI Yoshio The Little World Museum of Man Abstract The study of Andean prehistory by Japanese anthropologists began in 1958 when the first scientific expedition was carried out. The principal objective ofthis project was research on the origins ofAndean civilization. The project has continued for over 45 years, and many Japanese specialists have partieipated in it. They have not only excavated more than ten archaeological sites in Peru, but have also made many contributions to the advancement of Andean prehistorM both in data and theory, This article summarizes the history of this research in relation to theoretical trends in the discipline, and ends with some comments about the relationship between the researchers and the local people. Key words: Andean archaeology; Peruvian prehistory; Formative period; Kotosh; Kuntur Wasi; origins of civilization; Andean civilization; Chavin The Beginning In 1937, [Ibrii Ryuzo (1870-1953) was sent to Brazil as a cultural envoy by the Japanese government. After completing this mission, he made a trip to Peru and Bolivia to become acquainted with the many archaeological sites and materials to be found there. There is no doubt that he was fascinated by prehistoric Andean civilization, and he began to find out about it by visiting archaeological sites, by meeting Peruvian and Bolivian archaeologists, and also by reading seme of the literature available at that time. He met Julio C. [[bllo at an excavation at the Cerro Sechin site, on the Central Coast of Peru, after which he visited Chan Chan on the NII-Electronic Library Service JapaneseJapaneseSociety Society ofCulturalof Cultural Anthropology 58 ONuKIY]shio North Coast, Here he got to know Rafael Larco Hoyle, and learned about the dispute between these two pioneers ef Peruvian archaeology over the origins ofthe Andean civilization. returning and wrote After te Japan,he lectured articles on the pre-Hispanic cultures of Peru and Bolivia ([[brii 1976a, b, c). In a lecture at Kobe in 1938, he stated: Japanese archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, and linguists have never had an interest in the American continents, while those who are engaged in trade and commerce have already established close ties with Latin Ameriea, and today they are holding an exhibition, Ybt, we have little knowledge about the Inca or Mexican empires, Nobody in the Imperial University of [fokyo is interested in these matters. When I was an assistant in the University, we had a few opportunities for contact with South America, but since our superiors and others used to say that it had ne relation to Japan, we put aside studying it ([Ibrii 1976b). After the Second World War, the Imperial University of 7]bkyo was renamed the University of Tbkyo, and in 1954 it estab]ished a new Department of Cultural AnthropologM separate from the existing Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Natural Sciences, and the Department of Archaeology in the Faculty of Letters. Ishida Eiichiro (1903-1968) took over as chairman, and Izumi Seiichi, Sono [Ibshihiko, Obayashi Taryo, [[brada Kazuo, and, a little later, Nakane Chie, joined the stafll result was that One Izumi Seiichi (1915-1970) had the opportunity of going to Brazil fbr the first time. He had never imagined going to South America before, because he graduated from the Imperial University of Seoul in Korea and had carried out fieldwork as a secial anthropologist in Korea and Manchuria until 1945. He was forced to leave Korea and returned to Japan, along with many other anthropologists and archaeologists working in Korea and China, including Ishida Eiichiro, Egami Namio, Imanishi Kinji, and Umesao Tadao. Because their new jobs were confined to Japan, they probably shared a similar nostalgia for the life they experienced on the Asian mainland. Izumi therefore accepted without hesitation a chanee offered by UNESCO and the Ministry of Foreign Afftiirs to go to Brazil, first in 1952-53, and again in 1956. The purpose of the second visit was a sociological survey of Japanese immigrants in Brazil. Like [[brii, Izumi went from Brazil to Peru, where he met Amano Ybshitaro (1898-1982), who had gone to ]ive in Peru a few years previously Amano was a businessman who ran a trading firm in Panama before the Pacific War, After internment in a concentration carnp in the USA, he was eventually sent back to Japan. He was another of the Japanese who longed to go abroad again after the war, He managed to get to Peru, and opened a business in Lima. He had a great interest in ancient pre-Hispanic cultures in Peru and began to collect archaeological materials. Each night, most possibly over whisky and pisco, Amano talked enthusiastieally te Izumi about the fascination of Andean civilization, and convinced him to set up a preject in Peru. NII-Electronic Library Service JapaneseJapaneseSociety Society ofCulturalof Cultural Anthropology Japanese Research on Andean Prehistory 59 Izumi went to Harvard University in 1956 and joined a seminar run by Gordon R. Willey to learn about Andean archaeology, Returning to Japan, he made a start on his Andean studies project, asking Ishida to participate. Egami Namio, a speeialist in the archaeology and ancient history ofEast and Central Asia, had organized an expedition to Mesopotamia and had already started archaeological excavation in Iraq, The bold idea ofa comparative study of the origins of the civilizations in the Old and New Worlds provided a rationale fbr the enterprise, Ishida Eiichiro, the first director of the University of Tbkye Scientific Expedition to the Andes, wrote in the preface of his report: the plan of an Andean expedition materialized soon after the Iraq-Iran Archaeological Expedition of the University of [[bkyo started in 1956. As the Iran-Iraq prQject centinued with the excavation of Neolithie village sites in search of the origin of the most ancient civilizations of the Old World, we also became very interested in the birth and formation of the New World civilizations, and consequently in the cemparative study of the origins of two civilizations (Ishida 1960: 407), 1958, visiting more than The expedition carried out research from July te November in 200 sites in Peru, from Tumbes to Tacna in the coastal region and from Cajamarca, Callejo'n de Huaylas and Hutinuco to La Paz in Bolivia in the High Andes. Excavations on a small scale were carried out at Tumbes on the North Coast, and at the Las Haldas site in the Central Coast. After this wide-ranging general surveM Izumi decided to carry ovt intensive research at a site called Kotosh. Excavations at Kotosh, 1960, 1963 and 1966 Kotosh is located near the modern city of Huanuco in the upper Huallaga basin, in the North-Central Highlands of Peru, at an altitude of 1,950 meters above sea level. The first excavations at Kotosh began in July 1960, and ended in early October, The members of the archaeological research team were Izumi Seiichi, Sono [Ibshihiko, Watanabe Naotsune, [[brada Kazuo, Sadasue Takaji, and Onuki Ybshio. The results of the excavations can be briefly summarizedas fo11ows: 1. Stratigraphical excavations of a sequence of overlapping stone constructions distinguished `iperiods" six phases (called at that time). They were, in ascending order, the Kotosh Mito, Kotosh Wairajirca, Kotosh Kotosh, Kotosh Chavin, Kotosh Sajarapatac, and Kotosh Higueras phases. 2, Pottery of the Kotosh Chavin phase showed a strong resemblance to that of Chavin de Huantar. This site was considered to be the earliest ceremonial center, with a temple NII-Electronic Library Service JapaneseJapaneseSoclety Society ofCulturalof Cultural Anthropology 60 ONuKI Ybshio structure, of cukure which matrix the formed the for the later development and diversification of Andean civilization. 3. The two phases befbre the Kotosh Chavin phase had pottery which was very diflbrent from this, but which was also well made and definitely pre-Chavfn. The technique of principal "post-coction'i decoration was the firing) (i.e.after inlayof color pigrnents in incisedlines or spaces. 4. The earliest phase, the Kotosh Mito phase, was pre-ceramic, though a building with fine stone architecture was discovered, Part of the construction had plastered floor and walls, and a well-made plaster relief representing two crossed arms was found on the face of the "[rbmple wall, Izumi named this structure the of the Crossed Hands." Figure 1. The Temple of the Crossed Hands, Kotosh, excavated in 1963 {Photo: Onuki Y.). The report was published, making a deep impression on other specialists in the USA and Peru (Izumi and Sono 1963). Parallel to Kotosh, small-scale excavations were carried out at the Pechiche and Garbanzal sites in the suburbs of TUmbes, on the North Coast of Peru (Izumi and [[brada 1966). A second season of excavations was carried out in 1963 by an archeological team consisting of Izumi, Sono, [Ibrada, Onuki, Matsuzawa Tsugio, Kano Chiaki, [rbmoeda Hiroyasu, and Miyazaki Yasushi, They were joined by three Peruvian students from Ayacucho UniversitM Mario Benavides, Enrique Gonzalez Carr6 and Augusto Cruzat. A third season took place in 1966, in which the panicipants were Izumi, [Ibrada, Masuda Shozo, Onuki, Matsuzawa, Kano, NII-Electronic Library Service JapaneseJapaneseSociety Society ofCulturalof Cultural Anthropology Japanese Resoarch on Andean Prehistory 6i [[bmoeda, Miyazaki, Fojii Tatsuhiko, Lorenzo Samaniego R oman, Arturo Ruiz, and others, The results can be summarized as fo11ows: 1. The chronolog:y tentatively established in 1960 was corroborated through wider excavatlons. 2, The [[bmple of the Crossed Hands was thoroughly exposed and a second relief of crossed of of hands was discoveredin sit" on the temple wal]. The state preservation the temple was so good that a lot ofdata about the architecture was obtained. 3, It was revealed during the excavation of this temple that another temple had been constructed on top of it.

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