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Science 5 October 2001:
Vol. 294. no. 5540, p. 31
DOI: 10.1126/science.294.5540.31c
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ScienceScope

The Japanese amateur archaeologist who was caught planting artifacts at a site last year (Science, 10 November 2000, p. 1083) has admitted to more deceptions in his efforts to move back the date of the earliest human habitation of the archipelago. But archaeologists say that they will need several more months to complete their investigation of Shinichi Fujimura's work because of his questionable mental health.

Fujimura has been in a mental institution since the scandal broke and has spoken several times with a panel from the Japanese Archaeological Association. But Kunio Yajima, an archaeologist at Meiji University in Tokyo who serves on the committee, says it could only get limited details from Fujimura: "He is, in a word, sick, and our meetings were severely brief." Although the committee will release an interim report this week at a meeting in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, its final report is not expected until next spring.

Meanwhile, other archaeologists aren't waiting. Charles Keally, an American archaeologist based at Sophia University in Tokyo, says that "the community has largely concluded that material [connected to Fujimura] will always be suspect."

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)