Summary

Japan currently has an average of ca. 7,000 archaeological excavations per year. The ability to provide a reliable absolute chronology for these sites and the material recovered from them is of central importance for archaeological research. Thanks to its increased availability in recent years, the use of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating is no longer restricted to research-led fieldwork, and has now become commonplace in rescue excavations throughout the country. These scientific dates are invaluable for archaeology, and anthropology, and more broadly to historical and quaternary sciences. However, the sheer number of radiocarbon dates and the continuous addition of newly published data makes finding and using information impractical for individual users. Thus, a systematic collation of radiocarbon dates from around 60,000 site reports stored in the library of the National Museum of Japanese History was carried out, leading to a creation of a database with over 40,000 entries, which is continually being maintained and updated. To make this resource available to an international audience, and further promote archaeological research based on radiocarbon dating, an English translation of the database has now been completed and made publicly available online.

Use

The database is being continuously updated with additional entries and corrections. Please download the latest version from the link below. Please note that each radiocarbon data has a unique entry and calibrated date ranges are not included. Users are requested to calibrate dates on their own using the latest and most appropriate calibration curve.

Differences to the Japanese version

The English version of the database should not be considered a direct and full translation of the original Japanese database. Notable changes include:

  • Exclusion of dates without Laboratory codes or 14C age.
  • Merging of duplicate dates from multiple publication sources and exclusion of dates with inconsistent information between sources.
  • Romanisation of geographic names.
  • Translations of information pertaining dated materials.
  • A new field containing animal and plant taxa.
  • Omission of several fields (e.g. recovery context, cultural phase, address, etc..)

For more information and details see Kudo et al 2018. Users interested in obtaining additional information should consult the full Japanese version of the database on the following link:
https://www.rekihaku.ac.jp/up-cgi/login.pl?p=param/esrd/db_param

Version downloads

Version Date Release Notes
v.1.1.0 18 July 2023 (latest)
v.1.1.0 metadata 18 July 2023 (latest)

Notes.

  1. The database is primarily intended as a means to identify primary sources (e.g. site excavation reports from which specific dates were obtained). The chronological attribution to archaeological periodisation, as well as the association between the recovery context of the samples and other archaeological data, are reported as in these primary sources. Please note that in some cases the reported archaeological phases and the radiocarbon age of the specimen are not always mutually consistent.
  2. Any scientific publications and presentations using any of the databases should cite the URL of the database and the following two papers:
    • Kudo, Y. Sakamoto, M. Hakozaki, M. 2018. Approach for Creating Database of the Radiocarbon Dates Published on the Archaeological Research Reports in Japan. Bulletin of the National Museum of Japanese History 212：pp.251-266.
    • Kudo, Y. Sakamoto, M. Hakozaki, M., Stevens, C, Crema, E.R. 2023. An archaeological radiocarbon database of Japan. Journal of Open Archaeology Data 11:11, pp 1-9, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/joad.115

This work was supported by Following projects:

  • Research Funds for Database Development of the National Museum of Japanese History 国立歴史民俗博物館データベース開発経費 （工藤雄一郎・坂本稔・箱﨑真隆）
  • JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 22H00743, 18H00757, 15K02995.
  • ERC-Stg grant “Demography, Cultural Change, and the Diffusion of Rice and Millets during the Jomon-Yayoi transition in prehistoric Japan (ENCOUNTER)”, Project N. 801953

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