ABSTRACT
14C dating placed both Japanese ground stone tools and pottery as the earliest in the world. However, it was not unusual for archaeologists to view such dates sceptically since it did not seem plausible that such advances could have been achieved so early ill the remote islands such as Japan. Thus, a controversy arose between those who rejected radiocarbon dating while adhering to the traditional independent method of archaeology and those who depended on scientific methods for dating. In short, it became a question of fundamental attitudes and orientation to archaeology.
