Excavation of Prehistoric Ainu sites

Beginning in summer 2011, The Baikal Archaeology Project (BAP) is undertaking an excavation in the Japanese Hokkaido island chain. The project is a collaboration between the University of Alberta (Canada) and Hokkaido University (Japan) in partnership with many international researchers. The two sites that will be their primary areas of focus date to the Middle and Late Jomon periods (3,000 to 1,000 BCE). The project will be investigating comparisons with other Northern, Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers, and the prehistory of the indigenous Ainu people.