An investigative committee of the Japanese Archaeological Association on Sunday presented a report saying that an archaeologist fabricated finds at 42 sites, unveiling the full scope of a scandal that has forced experts to begin a review of Japan's Stone Age history.
The committee's report comes nearly a year after Shinichi Fujimura, former deputy director of the Tohoku Paleolithic Institute in Tagajo, Miyagi Prefecture, confessed in November 2000 that he had planted the stone tools he claimed he found at the ruins of Kamitakamori in the town of Tsukidate, Miyagi Prefecture and Soshin Fudozaka, in Shintotsukawa, Hokkaido.
According to the committee, which held a news conference after the end of the association's two-day conference in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, Sunday to explain the fabrications, Fujimura, 51, admitted to faking discoveries at 42 sites.
Of these, Fujimura said he had "fabricated everything" at the ruins of Sodehara 3 in Yamagata Prefecture, and Harasekasahari and Ittouchimatsubayama, both in Fukushima Prefecture, according to the committee.