NEWS

Special Exhibition at the ICU Hachiro Yuasa Memorial Museum/ Mitaka City Archaeological Exhibition: "Palaeolithic Period along Midstream Nogawa"

Update: September 17, 2024

Special exhibition, Mitaka City Archaeological Exhibition "Palaeolithic Period along Midstream Nogawa," jointly organized by ICU and Mitaka City, is being held at the Hachiro Yuasa Memorial Museum, which is located on the ICU campus. This exhibition and the accompanying lecture are part of the "Mitaka Marugoto Museum" initiative based on the comprehensive partnership agreement between ICU and Mitaka City.

The exhibition focuses on life in the Nogawa River basin, which is known for having one of the highest densities of Paleolithic archaeological sites in Japan. In particular, the middle reaches of the Nogawa River, where the ICU campus is located, is known as a region where a wealth of materials have been excavated from almost all strata from the oldest periods of the Japanese archipelago, referred to as Layer X, to the end of the Paleolithic era, referred to as Layer III. For this exhibition, we have compiled materials from this region and provide explanations for the visitors about the meaning of the differences in stone tools, which vary greatly depending on the stratum and location, as well as details of the daily lives of the human beings who lived through the environmental changes of the interglacial and glacial periods.

The preview event on September 9 was attended by 35 people, including members of the media, the Chairperson and other members of Mitaka City Assembly, members of the Mitaka City Museum Advisory Council, and representatives from cooperating museums, as well as trustees and members of the Museum Management Committee from ICU. With Setsuko Oasa, Director of Mitaka City Sports and Culture Department, acting as MC, ICU President Shoichiro Iwakiri and Mayor of Mitaka City, Takashi Kawamura gave speeches, expressing their joy that the Osawa area of Mitaka City, which is located in the Nogawa River basin, was a site of lively human interaction during the Paleolithic period, and their expectations for the exhibition. Next, Akiko Fukuno, curator at the Yuasa Hachiro Memorial Museum, explained the highlights of the four sections of the exhibition.

After that, while viewing the exhibits, the participants listened to explanations by Yuji Shimohara, a curator in the Mitaka City Sports and Culture Department's Lifelong Learning Promotion Section, Shinji Nakayama and Keiko Saito of the same section's Buried Cultural Properties Survey Office, and Toru Hayashi, a part-time lecturer currently teaching Archaeology at ICU.

The participants thought about the history of the formation of the Musashino Plateau while looking at the diorama showing the environment along the Kokubunji Bluff Line during the Paleolithic period and a skull replica of Minatogawa Man, who is thought to have lived in Okinawa during this period. In front of the display case showcasing stone tools excavated from the Nogawa site on which was once part of ICU campus and records of the survey, an explanation was given of the excavations carried out at the time, which are regarded as a landmark in the study of the Paleolithic period. The stratigraphic model from the site on the ICU campus is a highlight exhibit that clearly shows the impact of Mt. Fuji's activity on the Musashino Plateau. In the final section of the exhibition area, over 100 stone artifacts excavated from the Nogawa River basin are on display, giving us an idea of the extent of the technical progress and interaction of people at the time. The AI-generated illustrations and videos are also an interesting part of the exhibition.

On Saturday, September 21, an open lecture related to the special exhibition was held.

The 122nd Open Lecture: "Palaeolithic Life and Culture along Midstream Nogawa"
Date: Saturday, September 21, 2024, 13:30 - 16:00 (doors open at 13:00)
Lecturer: Dr. Junichi Nagasaki (Professor, Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Waseda University)
Panelists: Dr. Hiroyuki Shiraishi (Professor Emeritus, Aichi Gakuin University) and Prof. Toru Hayashi (Part-time Lecturer, International Christian University)
Venue: International Christian University Troyer Memorial Arts and Sciences Hall
Admission is free but seating is limited to 300 and available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The exhibition will run until November 14 (Thursday).
Please see the Hachiro Yuasa Memorial Museum website for access information.
The Hachiro Yuasa Memorial Museum Website