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Special Committee for Investigating the Early-Middle Paleolithic Problem
Dec. 1, 2004

At the annual general meeting on May 22, 2004, it was agreed to dissolve the Special Committee, it having largely completed its work, although some unresolved issues remained.

In the report at the annual meeting, Akira Sekiya presented the results of the investigations at Kashonishi, Nakayamatoge, Shimo-Kawadairasawa, and Akanetoge in Gunma Prefecture. It was reported that these sites were faked, but that the investigation work at Irinosawa had not yet been completed.

With respect to Irinosawa, Akira Sekiya reported that on June 1, Gunma Prefectural Board of Education had been informed that there was a high probability that the site was part of the hoax. The Board of Education then asked the Special Committee to confirm the results of its investigations. On August 19, confirmation work including examination of the lithic raw materials was conducted by former Special Committee member Kunio Yajima and Yasuji Saito, following up upon the investigations by Akira Sekiya.

With respect to Kiribara, on September 3, 2004 the Kiribara Site Investigation Committee published "A Preliminary Report on the Kiribara Site, Omama-cho, Yamada-gun, Gunma Prefecture". This report was then sent to the Prefectural Board of Education. The results of this excavation committee also supported a hoax at this locality.

The above work completed all the investigations of the sites associated with former JAA member Shinichi Fujimura.

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