5,000 year old 'Flame Pot' swaps Japan for Stonehenge in new exhibition
The display has been delayed by a few years
A number of ancient Japanese artefacts will go on display in Britain for the first time ever, at an exhibition at Stonehenge.
This includes a 5,000 year old Jomon 'Flame Pot', which is considered a national treasure in Japan.
It opens Friday (30th September) and is the first ever one about Prehistoric Japan and their stone circles in this country.
The exhibition also explores more recent connections between Stonehenge and Japan through the art of Japanese woodblock printer Yoshijiro Urushibara who worked in Britain in the 1920s and British archaeologist William Gowland.
The Jomon period in Japan spanned the European Mesolithic, Neolithic and early Bronze Age periods put together.
It was originally supposed to begin in 2020, however due to Covid, it's been pushed back to now.
Martin Allfrey, Senior Curator for English Heritage said:
“Exploring what is happening elsewhere in the prehistoric world is key to understanding the significance of Stonehenge. It’s tantalising to look at what these extraordinary objects from Japan tell us about the similarities between these communities who, while thousands of miles apart, were perhaps ideologically closer than one might imagine. Equally intriguing is the fact that William Gowland’s experience working on archaeological sites in Japan at the end of the nineteenth century helped him to develop the first scientific study of Stonehenge and to formulate new theories about the building of Stonehenge and its alignment with the sun. We are thrilled to tell the story of this extraordinary place and time, and hope to bring a little bit of Japanese inspiration and wonder to the visitor centre at Stonehenge.”
It will be on display at Stonehenge visitor centre for a year.
Simon Kaner, Executive Director of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures and Director of the Centre for Japanese Studies at the University of East Anglia said:
“Circles of Stone opens just as Japan makes tentative moves to open up to overseas tourists following the pandemic. After over two years of being largely isolated from the outside world, this exhibition presents little known aspects of Japanese archaeology that demonstrate similarity and equally intriguing diversity at either end of Eurasia. Creating the exhibition has provided the opportunity to re-confirm networks between British and Japanese specialists. In that vein it also explores some fascinating links between British and Japanese archaeology over more than 100 years.”