Iwajuku

The first Palaeolithic site discovered in Japan, with layers dating to 20,000 and 15,000 years old. Excavation there provided the first convincing evidence that the Japanese islands were occupied by man during Palaeolithic times. Among the finds are elongate blades, choppers, and scrapers in the oldest layer and thin small blades in the second. Other crude 'tools' estimated to be over 50,000 years old have been found.

An archaeological site in Japan, about 90 km north of Tokyo. The 1949 excavation by Meiji University, following the site’s discovery by an amateur a few years earlier, provided the first convincing evidence that the Japanese islands were occupied by man during Palaeolithic times. Among the stone tools recovered from the oldest layer of the site were three first described as hand axes. However, they are partially polished on the edges, and radiocarbon and fission track dating suggest that they are about 20,000 years old.