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BE-ARCHAEO - PROJECT

BE-ARCHAEO BEyond ARCHAEOlogy: an advanced approach linking East to West through science, field archaeology, interactive museum experiences is an European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Staff Exchange project founded under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action - grant agreement No. 823826 - running from February 2019 to January 2023, gathering c. 60 researchers from seven institutions and five countries.

The main core of BE-ARCHAEO is an innovative transdisciplinar approach to  archaeological excavation and documentation, tested on the excavation of the Tobiotsuka Kofun (Soja city in Okayama Prefecture) and challenging studies of other Kofun burial mounds and related archaeological material in ancient Kibi and Izumo area (Okayama and Shimane Prefectures), focusing on the rituals, the regional relationships and the formation of ancient state in Japan.

BE-ARCHAEO - MAIN GOALS

1 - Be-Archaeo tackles specific questions about Japanese proto-history. With ancient Kibi (present Okayama Prefecture) and Izumo (present Shimane Prefecture) as the main field of investigation, the collaborative project aims to shed new light on the society, life and mortuary rituals from the Late Yayoi Period to the end of the Kofun Period, during which the foundation of ancient state of Japan was formed. Construction of large burial mounds, kofun, is the prominent feature of the Japanese proto-history. Largest kofun concentrate in the Kinki region (present Nara and Osaka Prefectures) where the capital of the ancient Yamato State was established, but most of them are designated as imperial mausoleums and not available for scientific research. Okayama provides a promising field with its rich archaeological sites and materials including Zozan kofun, the fourth largest kofun in Japan, and Tatetsuki Yayoi burial mound which was the largest among the contemporary burial mounds in the Late Yayoi period. Ancient Izumo also played an important role in the Japanese proto-history as has been known by archaeology and mythology. Thus the field of the BE-ARCHAEO project is ideal to elucidate what happened in the critical period of Japanese history from the viewpoint of powerful but local groups, which have not fully explored in the traditional understanding focusing on the centralised government.

2 - BE-ARCHAEO is expected to elucidate the complex process of social and cultural changes with the state-of-the-art transdisciplinary analyses on archaeological materials and the samples taken in the course of excavations. Many new insights and knowledges are expected to be obtained on technological, social, and ideological aspects of the ancient culture. How the chiefs, artisans and local people interacted in the emergence of, and the decline of kofun and eventually led to the adoption of new social system accompanied by Buddhism will be made clear in the project.

3 - The project is expected to bring to the public worldwide a number of new findings through websites and other social media in addition to academic publications. Museum exhibitions in Japan and Italy are also planned.

Be-Archaeo is a multidisciplinary project organized in six work packages to deal - through a trans-disciplinary approach - with Japanese early history and the role of Tobiotsuka kofun in this scenario. Be-Archaeo team will produce in field and lab work data from landscape reconstitution to raw materials provenances and changes in social and political dynamics that will be present in two interactive museum exhibitions to be held in Izumo and Turin in 2022.

BE-ARCHAEO – PARTNERS & TEAM

BE-ARCHAEO project is coordinated by the University of Turin (Italy) and joint together other academic partners as UNIARQ/University of Lisbon (Portugal), University of Okayama (Japan), SME as Tecnart (Italy), Terramarine (Greece), Visual Dimensions (Belgium) and research institutions as IRIAE (Italy). The project is also supported by other institutions such as INFN_CHNet (Italy), the Shimane Board of Education (Japan), the Municipality of Turin (Italy). The Shimane Museum of Ancient Izumo (Izumo/Japan) and the Museum of Oriental Art (Turin/Italy) have also commit their support to the project and will host the BE_ARCHAEO final exhibitions.

An international - from both Europe and Japan - and multidisciplinary team – combining archaeologist and archaeometry experts (i.e.: chemists, physicists, biologists, geologists, petrographers, veterinaries and soil scientists) will carry out a comprehensive research project in Japan early history. Simultaneously media and IT experts will participate in all the steps of activities from the archaeological excavation to the laboratory, creating an interdisciplinary data-base, videos, documentaries and interactive devices to engage larger audiences beyond academic circles.

Field Work

Tobiotsuka kofun is located in  Soja City, Okayama Prefecture, (lat. 34°40′23″ N, long 133°47′11″ E). Construction of the Tobiotsuka kofun is currently estimated between the latter half of the Late Kofun Period to the beginning of the Final phase of the Kofun Period (the end of the sixth century to the beginning of the seventh century). Japanese socieits in the Kofun Period (AD250-680) is considered as complex chiefdoms or early states. Survey of the mound and the stone chamber has recently been conducted by Okayama University, but the Tobiotsuka kofun has never been excavated. The survey revealed that it has a circular mound with a diameter of 23m, and a horizontal stone chamber measuring 12.5m.

The Soja area, in which the Tobiotsuka kofun exists, is well known as one the most concentrated area of large kofun; Zozan kofun, the fourth largest in Japan with 350m total length, and Sakuzan kofun, the tenth largest with 290m total length were built in the fifth century, followed by a 100m length kofun. Tobiotsuka kofun marks the last of the sequential construction of large kofun in this area. The size of the mound of Tobiotsuka kofun is not large compared to the preceding kofun, reflectimg the general downsizing trend from the sixth century. The size of the stone chamber, however, is outstanding, indicating the power of the buried chief.

The Tobiotsuka kofun will be excavated for the first time by a Japanese-European team starting field work in August 2019. Main questions related to monument chronology, building techniques, architecture features and funerary rituals. The process by which the stone chamber and corridor were constructed, the ways of building the mound using earth and stone, the presence of a stone coffin, the inhumation of the dead and all the materials that are part of the funerary scene are some of the aspects to be assessed by geophysical survey and archaeological excavation.

Lab Work

Other topics as paleo landscapes, local vegetation and fauna, raw material provenances – of stones, pottery, metal, vermilion - artefacts dating and production techniques are also Be-Archaeo research goals to be developed by a large archaeometric team. Samples collected in the field but also gatherer in museums will be under Be-Archaeo agenda core issues in the project. The investigation on the archaeometric team, performed through state-of–the-art scientific tools, will also lead to develop new and efficient scientific procedures, tailored at gaining the largest information from each archaeological shard.

Digital Tools

The challenge of organising all the data and results in a truly interdisciplinary data-base, exploitable both by amateurs and professionals, is crucial in the project. The Be-Archaeo team is also committed to develop digital tools to exhibit Japanese early history to a global audience in museum’s exhibition and trough media and social networks 3D models, virtual reality, IT devices are today powerful tools to communicate Science and to enhance heritage safeguard and its social valorisation.

Beyond Archaeology

Several issues involve Final Kofun period from a major religious shift with the introduction of Buddhism - and a new funerary ritual as is cremation - to changes in social landscape with the progressive affirmation of a centralized state represented by the Emperor.

For about 400 years hundreds kofuns were built. Some of them with gigantic proportions revealing an hyperbolization of Death and some Dead well known in other areas.

Demographic grow, social competition – between local elites and local elites and centralized power – and vivid economies allowing long distance trade of exotic raw materials and artefacts are some of historical features that stand behind Kofun’s landscape.

Website - https://www.bearchaeo.com/