ABSTRACT
The first Palaeolithic site was discovered in Japan immediately after the Second World War, and, from then onwards, Palaeolithic research rapidly developed with tire successive discovery of many sites. The Japanese Palaeolithic is characterized, among other things, by volcanic ash layers within which the majority of sites are found. These conditions provide the archaeologist with a wealth of evidence for constructing relative chronologies based on stratigraphy, and the many stone tool assemblages chronologically ordered in this way provide a firm foundation for further advances in Palaeolithic research.
