Claim to fame? Fujimura Shinichi

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The recent global financial crises uncovered many frauds and fraudsters causing people – everyday people – much heartache and financial and emotional pain. But like anything frauds are a dime a dozen and I was most interested to read about a Japanese archaeologist, Fujimura Shinichi, who committed fraud with stone artifacts.

Fujimura managed to fake some important discoveries for years before he was exposed in 2002. It seems there can be many different types of ‘pigs in a poke.’

Fujimura began his study of archeology in 1972 and was able to establish his reputation as a leading amateur archeologist in Japan. It was in 1981 when he claimed a major discovery dating back 40.000 years.

He had made his name and over the years he worked on 180 or more archeological digs all around Japan. Fujimura’s discoveries on digs became the basis for textbooks and research of other archeologists.

With his reputation growing any potential critics kept silent.

In 2002, Fujimura announced that an important find dating back 570.000 years had been made but sadly weeks later there were pictures published in the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper of Fujimura digging holes and burying the artifacts his team had later found.

The pictures had been taken one day before the find had been announced.
Strange? But Fujimura confessed that his claims were false. Of course all of Fujimura’s work immediately fell under suspicion.

Publishers of archeology textbooks had to change everything.

Incredible, but how it shows us to test our assumptions constantly question and gain knowledge.

Excepting the monied ponzi schemes, what other strange frauds can you think of?

This lady is restoring an old Jomon pot in Kagoshima. Luckily this is not one of Fujimura’s finds and can be traced back to the Jomon period in Japanese history. It is a painstaking job but well-worth the work I am sure.