L'archéologie japonaise en Corée coloniale: Trajectoires, terrains et représentations

International audienceThis paper will describe the genesis and organs of Japanese colonial archaeology and museums in colonial Korea during the first half of the XX th century, as well as the main fields that were studied. The colonial context of archaeology in Korea, a country dominated by a foreign power, determined its practice. We will therefore explain which topics did particularly interest the colonial archaeological research, which was determined above all by Japanese philology and sinology. These two disciplines already "knew" the past that was to be uncovered, like Schliemann at Troy: colonial archaeology in Korea was therefore confined to a confirmatory mission at the sites of Lelang or Kyŏngju, while enhancing the prestige of the Japanese colonizer through its "mission" of conserving the Korean cultural heritage