Prof. dr. Makoto Arimura

Makoto Arimura is a professor at Tokai University, Japan. He obtained his undergraduate degree in archaeology (1995) from the University of Tsukuba, Japan, under Professor Akira Tsuneki, and his PhD in archaeology (2007) from the Université Lumière Lyon 2, France, under Professor Olivier Aurenche and Dr Éric Coqueugniot. After a project assistant post at the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN), Kyoto (2006), he worked at the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (NRICP) as a research fellow (2007–2012). He taught at Kanazawa University as an associate professor in museology (2013–2016). Arimura has participated in the excavation of Near Eastern prehistoric sites in Syria, Turkey, Georgia and Armenia.

His primary research topic is the transformation of human society during Neolithisation, through changes in material culture, particularly the transition of stone tool manufacturing technology in the Neolithic Near East. His PhD research has led to the publication of ‘The Neolithic Lithic Industry at Tell Ain El-Kerkh’ (Archaeopress, 2020).