Shinichi Fujimura, the archaeologist who admitted faking the discovery of two Paleolithic stone tools in northern Japan, has confessed to faking the unearthing of the world's oldest stone tool, archaeological association officials said Saturday.
Fujimura had broken the tool up and claimed to have discovered its parts in two neighboring prefectures, they said.
Fujimura made the latest confession to a special Japanese Archaeological Association investigation committee after announcing in December 1997 that the two pieces of the implement, discovered in Yamagata and Miyagi prefectures, matched each other, the officials said. The sites are about 30 km apart.
The pieces of the tool -- initially thought to date back 100,000 years -- were found at the Sodehara 3 site in Obanazawa, Yamagata Prefecture, and at the Nakajimayama site in Shikama, Miyagi Prefecture.