James Frances Loftus

Institute of Science Tokyo

Intentional cranial modification has a long history, being a ubiquitous practice in many cultures around the world for millennia. The crania excavated at the Hirota site on Tanegashima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, has been previously noted to have a marked tendency toward a short head and a flattened occipital bone, which has been suggested...

The quantifiable and reproducible representation of variability in material culture has continued to play a key role in the elucidation of shifting patterns of production organization in prehistoric archaeology. The study of standardization of ceramics has traditionally illuminated on how agents shift means of production to a common goal. However,...

In recent years, two-dimensional (2D) outline-based morphometric analysis has begun to be the standard means of shape analysis in the study of ceramics. Despite the ever-increasing repertoire of three-dimensional (3D) ceramic data available to researchers, due to challenges in utilizing landmark-based geometric morphometrics on ceramics, many conte...

What strategies did ancient humans use to pass down knowledge, and how can we infer these strategies through the artifacts they created? Humans utilize social learning to pass knowledge between and among groups and dedicate significant time and resources to teaching and learning, especially in the creation of material culture. In ancient societies,...

The field of Japanese archaeology is currently undergoing a significant transformation, propelled by the gradual acceptance of digital and computational technologies. Historically less prominent in global discussions, this shift presents an opportunity to enhance Japanese archaeology’s international visibility and collaboration. This paper seeks to...

Japanese archaeology has an unfortunate reputation for fixating on finely-tuned ceramic chronologies based on visually assessed, irreproducible methods. On the other hand, recent trends in big-data quantification have some archaeologists scratching their heads, asking, “Where’s the archaeology?” This perceived fissure between “traditional” and “mod...

Pottery standardization is a crucial aspect of pottery research; encompassing various attributes such as size, raw materials, and shape to illuminate notions of state formation, social learning strategies, and changes in production methodologies. While quantitative studies on size and raw materials are prevalent, quantitative analysis of shape attr...

In recent years, the use of 3D scanning of archaeological and forensic human remains and geometric morphometric analysis have become popular in biological anthropology. 3D scanning and the generating of 3D virtual models are very useful for curation and preservation purposes, and are easily shared remotely. Recently, the Kyushu University Museum...

Microregional studies on ceramic form have continued to elucidate detailed notions of differential production practices for several decades. With the wide proliferation of accessible morphometric analysis, statistically reproducible morphometric analysis of shape has quickly become an international standard in this field of archaeological practice....

In a broad sense, this project seeks to understand how, at a micro-regional level, prehistoric cultures react and adapt to cultural blending. Situated between the 14,000 year-long hunter-gatherer societies of the Jomon period and the wet-rice agricultural society of the middle Yayoi period; the early Yayoi period (~3000 BP/1000BC) in Kyushu Island,...

物質文化研究の分野においてはその研究が人類学的、社会学的、考古学的であるかに関わらず、形態測定学の利用が 継続的に拡大しており、土器様式的文化個体群の統計的重要性を持つクラスターを理解する上で役立つことがここ数十年で証 明されている。複雑な計算処理システムが絶え間なく進歩していると見られるなか、伝統的な型式学的分析と比較したときの形 態測定学の大きな利点は、データが二次元か三次元かに関わらず、「研究の客観性」の度合いが顕著に向上していることにある 。西洋における土器研究では機械学習（Machine learning）の手法の一つである、教師なし学習的分類（Unsupervised learning typology）の利用、 つまり考古学者のインプットを好ましいものとせず、代わりにこれらの複...

Despite the staggering theoretical and methodological advancements made in the field of archaeology in the past century alone, the matter of overcoming gaps in sample availability is one that consistently plagues even the most rigorous of methodological and theoretical projects. Coupled with this is the nature of prehistoric-archaeology itself, the...

Situated between the 14,000 year long hunter-gatherer societies of the Jomon period and the fully-fledged wet-rice agricultural society of the middle Yayoi period; the early Yayoi period in Kyushu Island, Japan saw several significant upheavals in societal structures, subsistence practices, and the creation of multi-leveled material cultures attrib...

The act of knowledge transmission through the learning process represents a pivotal moment in the shaping of social identities in the mind of a learner. While in contemporary societies learning may be constituted by institutionalized schooling, surrounded by peers and teachers of various backgrounds; in prehistoric societies this act took place wit...

This paper argues that micro-regional communities in the northern Kyushu region during the early Yayoi period partook in a variety of fine earthenware production due to varying participation in exchanges of discursive and practical stocks of knowledge; reflexively monitored and transformed into a variety of embodied skills. This research's scope co...