Stone tools believed to be the oldest in Japan are discovered at the Kan Ruins in Hatsukaichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and excavation continues.

Stone tools believed to be the oldest in Japan were discovered in 2024 at the Kan-kan ruins in Yoshiwa, Hatsukaichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and excavations are still continuing. Sadakatsu Kunitake (51), a senior researcher at the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, who is leading the project, says enthusiastically, ``This is Japan's best ruin that is connected to the world.I want to explore the history of humanity on the Japanese archipelago.'' Many citizens visit the public exhibition of the excavations, and related products have also been created, helping to revitalize the region.

Modern humans (Homo sapiens) first appeared in Africa between 300,000 and 200,000 years ago, and spread throughout the world via the Eurasian continent. Kunitake is tracing the footsteps of humankind's expansion into the archipelago through excavating stone tools both domestically and internationally.

Kunitake began excavating the Kan-kan ruins in 2023. The following year, a stone tool called a ``point'' was discovered, and radiocarbon dating revealed that it was 42,300 years old. It is conventionally thought that humans arrived on the archipelago around 38,000 years ago, but if the date is confirmed, it will go back nearly 5,000 years.

Although this was a major discovery, Kunitake points out that ``the idea that older is better is a big mistake.'' What I have in mind is the issue of Paleolithic forgery that was discovered in 2000. "What's important is authenticity. Rather than competing domestically to see how old it is, I want to learn more about the history of the archipelago by positioning it on the world map," he says emphatically.

There is also growing local interest in the Crown Ruins, where excavation continues. Approximately 650 people visited this month's public exhibition over two weeks. Koichiro Yuda (10), a fourth-year elementary school student from Hatsukaichi City, who toured with his grandparents, said with sparkling eyes, ``It's hard to imagine what happened 40,000 years ago, but it's romantic. I want to see the big stone tools.''

Ako Mitsui (41), who works at a local store, created her own characters based on stone tools. He sells dorayaki made in collaboration with a popular Japanese sweets shop in the city, and hopes that ``people both inside and outside the prefecture will get to know about the oldest place.'' Mayor Taro Matsumoto said, ``Personally, I have high expectations,'' and expressed his intention to utilize the ruins as an educational and tourism resource.