Logo

Professor Yoshinori Yasuda was born in 1946 in Mie prefecture in Japan. Since 1994 he has been a professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto (IRCJS). In 1996 he won the Chunichi cultural prize. In the same year he was a visiting professor at Humboldt University in Berlin. In 1997, he was appointed, in addition to his position at the IRCJS, as a professor at the Faculty of Science, Kyoto University. Since 1997, he has been a leader of the YRCP project. In 1980 professor Yasuda established the first unit of environmental archaeology in Japan. Since then he has conducted research in many countires including Korea, Greece, Turkey, India, China and the Himalayan region. Among Professor Yasuda's numerous publications are many books on environmental archaeology and related subjects. They include An Introduction to Environmental Archaeology (NHK books, Tokyo, 1980). Jomon Culture in World History (Yuzankaku, Tokyo, 1980), Forest Destruction and Rise and Fall of Civilization (Shisakusha, Tokyo, 1988), Forest and Civilization (Chikumashobo, Tokyo, 1994), Environment and Civilization (15 vols.) (Asakurashoten, Tokyo, 1995/6), and Forest and Japanese culture (Shinshisakusha, Tokyo, 1996),

An internationally renowned archaeologist, Dr. Vasant Shinde is a senior faculty member of the Department of Archaeology, Deccan College, Post-Graduate and Research Institute (Deemed University), Pune, and was a Visiting Professor in the International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Kyoto. His field of research is the Protohistory of South Asia and Field Archaeology. Dr. Shinde has been actively engaged in archaeological research in various parts of India and abroad for the last twenty-four years and has excavated sites like Padri, Balathal, Bagor, Mudvi and Siddhapur. One of his books entitled Early Settlements in Central Tapi Basin introduced new directions and methodology in Protohistorical research.