This issue of the journal Asian Archaeology (2017) marks a significant change, with the journal now published as an international academic journal by Springer. The previous volumes, 1–4 (2013–2016), were published as an annual academic journal by China’s Science Press, with editorial responsibilities based at the Research Center for Chinese Frontier Archaeology of Jilin University, a Chinese Ministry of Education sponsored Key Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at Universities, where they still continue with this issue.

Asian Archaeology is an academic English-language journal that publishes original studies based on field archaeological data as well as new theoretical and methodological analyses and synthetic overviews of topics in the field of Asian archaeology. The geographic scope of papers primarily extends across eastern Asia (including China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, and the Russian Far East), mainland and island Southeast Asia, and Australia. The journal’s readership is international, with a target audience of scholars and students with English-language backgrounds from Europe, North America, and Asia. By breaking down the language barriers toward access to the archaeology of eastern Asia, Asian Archaeology serves as a central, international forum for the study of Asian archaeology. The journal aims to contribute not only to a better understanding of the history and cultures of Asia, but also to the development of a global approach to archaeology, and thus to play an active role in promoting the development of world archaeology and Asian archaeology.