SEAA News Blog: Noteworthies

As chaos reigned during the Warring States period (475-221BC), rulers across ancient China turned to intellectuals to find a way out of perpetual war, and the Jixia Academy in the state of Qi stood out for its power to attract the greatest Chinese thinkers of the time.

The institute used to be a place relegated to the historical record; experts believed it probably existed, but little was known about Jixia and there was no definitive proof that it was a real place.

RANZAN, Saitama Prefecture--Artifacts labeled as “groundbreaking discoveries” from the ruins of structures associated with warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s Siege of Odawara in 1590 could have been prototypes of ninja weapons.

Akihiro Iwata, an archaeologist and curator at the Saitama Prefectural Ranzan Historical Museum here, said the flat stones and clay balls may well have been the forerunners of “shuriken” throwing stars and “makibishi” caltrops that later made up ninja arsenals.

"A high-profile letter sent in October 2021 told us everything we needed to know about the state of modern Chinese archaeology.
Sent by Chinese President Xi Jinping to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the Yangshao culture – considered the start of modern Chinese archaeology – the letter called for “developing archaeology with Chinese features, style and ethos” so the field could contribute to “national rejuvenation”.

The Archaeological Centre at the University of Toronto will be hosting a talk titled "In a Nutshell: Examining the Oversimplification of Jomon Period Ground Stone through Starch Grain Analysis in Southern Hokkaido Japan" by Dr Emma Yasui via Zoom on Friday, November 5, 2021, at 3:00 PM EST. Those interested in attending can register via the following link: Meeting Registration - Zoom