Right) Associate Professor Akira Fujisawa: Completed the doctoral program at the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts.After working at the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, he has been in his current position since 2014.His specialties are conservation science, cultural property science, and metal processing science.
Photo / Yasuhiro Ebiya Place / Institute of Cultural Properties, Teikyo University
Fusion of humanities and science knowledge From Silk Road to a new horizon
Do you know the ruins called "Ak Besim"?It is the ruins of a trading city along the Silk Road in the northern part of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia.Xuanzang, known as Sanzou Houshi, visited and is said to be the birthplace of the Tang dynasty poet Li Bai.The "Teikyo University Silk Road Academic Research Team" has been conducting excavations in this area since 2016.Professor Kazuya Yamauchi, Associate Professor Akira Fujisawa, and other faculty members from the Institute of Cultural Properties, Teikyo University and the Department of History, Faculty of Letters, Teikyo University are trying to unravel the lives and culture of people at that time through the excavation of archaeological sites.The result was remarkable, and by discovering a tile piece with Chinese characters written on it, it was confirmed that it was the site of the westernmost military base "Saiyochin Castle" built by Tang, and it was made of beautiful stone. I dug up the mosaic of the Tang dynasty and surprised the local people.
"Up until now, we have been conducting research from the perspective of basic archeology. In addition to this, we are thinking of having professors who are experts in various fields, mainly the Teikyo University Group, gather in the future. We are already discussing with professors in the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Science and Engineering how to approach with new ideas. "
According to Associate Professor Fujisawa, if research is conducted based on cutting-edge research in medicine as "archaeological science" or "archaeological bioorganic chemistry", it is possible to create unprecedented research methods. "For example, archaeological DNA analysis. This technology can be used to analyze DNA derived from the organisms that inhabited the environment such as soil and water. Hundreds of years of boring in the ground of the ruins. If you extract the soil and analyze it in order from the bottom, you should be able to obtain various information. This method is different from analyzing the excavated animal bones and plant seeds, and it inhabits at that time. I think that we can get a more concrete picture of the species and the environment that we were doing. "
Their aim is to extract deeper information from the archaeological site by trying a methodology that makes use of the knowledge of areas that have not been involved in the excavation so far.Derivation of new methods will bring great results to many excavations.But more than that, the approach to the new method is to create a new academic discipline, which is a social contribution from a different aspect from the cultural property survey.A fusion of humanities and science knowledge.It will open up further possibilities and lead to the creation of value.The two believe so.
"We have been looking only at the past, but from now on, we will continue to connect to the future."Professor Yamauchi smiled after saying that.
From the remains of the Silk Road to a new horizon.
Now, the excavation of the "future" is about to begin.
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