Curating the Prehistoric Past

This volume honours Professor Yoshihiro Nishiaki, celebrating his major contributions to West Asian prehistoric archaeology. It highlights his fieldwork across multiple countries, his curatorial work in Tokyo, and his influential role as a collaborator, educator, and mentor shaping diverse archaeological research.

This commemorative volume honours Professor Yoshihiro Nishiaki on the occasion of his completion of a term as full professor at The University of Tokyo in March 2026. It celebrates his career which has shaped the study of West Asian prehistoric archaeology and influenced generations of scholars worldwide.

Over several decades, Professor Nishiaki has played a leading role in advancing archaeological research across West Asia, directing major field expeditions in Syria, Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan. These projects have produced a remarkable body of influential scholarship and have significantly expanded knowledge of prehistoric societies in the region. Equally important has been his dedication to the curation of archaeological collections at the University Museum, The University of Tokyo, ensuring the preservation, accessibility, and scholarly use of invaluable materials.

Professor Nishiaki’s impact extends well beyond his own research. Through leadership in international and interdisciplinary collaborations, he has built enduring research networks. As an educator and mentor, he has provided students and early-career researchers with exceptional opportunities for fieldwork and training. While widely recognised for his expertise in lithic analysis, his guidance has encouraged diverse research trajectories, including pottery studies, zooarchaeology, archaeobotany, ritual practices, and settlement archaeology.

Preface – Editorial Collective

Part I: Research by Professor Yoshihiro Nishiaki

Selected Publications by Professor Yoshihiro Nishiaki

Chapter 1 From Syria to Azerbaijan, a long collaboration with Y. Nishiaki – Bertille Lyonnet

Chapter 2 Highlights and memories of research activities by Professor Nishiaki – Masashi Abe, Takehiro Miki, Seiji Kadowaki, Saiji Arai and Miho Suzuki

Part II: Paleolithic and the Transition to the Neolithic

Chapter 3 Documenting and protecting Paleolithic heritage in the Afrin Valley, Aleppo, in times of conflict – Youssef Kanjou and Mustafa Al Najjar

Chapter 4 Variability in Middle Palaeolithic predatory strategy across Southwest Asia and beyond – Saiji Arai

Chapter 5 An application of PaleoAsia DB to the ecological niche comparison between the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic stone tool groups in the Eastern Hemisphere – Yasuhisa Kondo

Chapter 6 Carinated pieces in the Wadi Kharar area, northern inland Syria: An updated perspective on Upper Paleolithic technology in the northeastern Levant – Seiji Kadowaki

Chapter 7 Space as metaphor: The evolution from round to rectangular buildings in the Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic of the Near East – Marc Verhoeven

Part III: Prehistory of Mesopotamia and the Zagros

Chapter 8 Tracing the origins of architectural specialisation in early Mesopotamia (7th–5th Millennia BCE) – Emmanuel Baudouin

Chapter 9 Human figurines from Tell Kashkashok I, Halafian site on the Upper Khabur River Basin, Northeast Syria – Makoto Arimura

Chapter 10 Samarra pottery in the “west”: A perspective from the collection in the National Museum of Aleppo, Syria – Takahiro Odaka

Chapter 11 Corner-thinned blades and side-blow blade-flakes from Shakar Tepe and Shaikh Marif, Pottery Neolithic sites in Iraqi Kurdistan – Osamu Maeda

Chapter 12 Figurines and other clay objects of Jarmo: Material culture and symbolic practice in the Neolithic Zagros – Sari Jammo

Part IV: Prehistory of Iran

Chapter 13 At the end of the Jari: Neolithic pottery from Tall-e Jari B, Fars, southern Iran – Takehiro Miki

Chapter 14 Local luster and exotic beads: Neolithic and Chalcolithic shell finds from the Marv Dasht plain in Iran – Sofie Debruyne

Chapter 15 Shogha/Taimuran pottery collection at the University of Tokyo Museum – Mohammad Hossein Azizi Kharanaghi

Chapter 16 Animal exploitation in the Elamite settlement of Tol-e Qaleh in the Marvdasht Plain (Fars-Iran) – Hossein Davoudi, Marjan Mashkour, Homa Fathi and Fazlollah Habibi

Chapter 17 Ending of a painted pottery: Classification, typology, and chronology of Caspian black on red ware – Yui Arimatsu

Part V: Prehistory in the Caucasus and Beyond

Chapter 18 Beyond everyday know-how, technology as a chrono-cultural marker – Jacques Chabot and Ruben Badalyan

Chapter 19 Contrasting lithic strategies between mountainous and plain sites in the late 7th to 6th millennium BC South Caucasus: Technological divergence and convergence at Damjili Cave and Göytepe – Fumika Ikeyama and Farhad Guliyev

Chapter 20 Charcoal identification of Göytepe site (sixth millennium BC), Azerbaijan – Ken-ichi Tanno, Eri Shimooka, Chie Akashi and Farhad Guliyev

Chapter 21 Hulled or free-threshing: Change of cereal choices over time in Southwest Asia and South Caucasus – Chie Akashi

Chapter 22 Beyond the daily subsistence: Rituals among the prehistoric agropastoralists of the Inner Asian Mountains – Giedre Motuzaite Matuzeviciute, Aida Abdykanova, Shogo Kume, Yuichi Hayakawa, Inga Merkyte and Kubatbek Tabaldiev

Chapter 23 A study on the Early Dilmun burial mounds with subsidiary burials – Masashi Abe and Kenji Okazaki

Chapter 24 Reconsidering the emergence of pottery in the Japanese Archipelago – Hiroto Nakata

The contributions gathered in this Festschrift are offered by scholars who have benefited from Professor Nishiaki’s mentorship, generosity, and intellectual inspiration. Together, they reflect the breadth of his academic vision and stand as a tribute to his lifelong commitment to research, education, and the advancement of prehistoric archaeology in West Asia and beyond.

• Edited by Seiji Kadowaki
• Edited by Masashi Abe
• Edited by Chie Akashi
• Edited by Saiji Arai
• Edited by Yui Arimatsu
• Edited by Yasuhisa Kondo
• Edited by Shogo Kume
• Edited by Takehiro Miki
• Edited by Hiroto Nakata
• Edited by Takahiro Odaka
• Edited by Kazuya Shimogama