Vol.58 No.1(229),June,
2011
CONTENTS
EMERGENCY STATEMENT ON THE GREAT EAST JAPAN
EARTHQUAKE
HOLDING THE EMERGENCY FORUM FOR THE EARTHQUAKE DISASTERS
AND POSTPONMENT OF THE 57TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY
KISHIMOTO
Michiaki and HISHIDA Tetsuo
ARTICLES
A trial approach to the construction design of
keyhole-shaped burial mounds
NIIRO Izumi
Abstract: Keyhole-shaped burial
mounds are the most typical tombs in Kofun period Japan. There is
agreement among many researchers that these mounds were constructed
according to standardized plans. However, once detailed construction
designs are discussed, serious differences of opinions become
apparent. In 2005 we started a survey of the Tsukuriyama tomb in
Okayama prefecture, the fourth largest mound in Japan. A new method
of survey was introduced, using total stations to grasp the shape of
the mound, with XYZ coordinates recorded for more than 120,000
data points. Based on this completely new type of data, we can now
discuss construction designs in detail.
The mound of the Tsukuriyama tomb is 360 m in length, with a
three-tiered construction. The ratio of the heights of the tiers for
the round part of the mound, starting from the bottom, is 1:1:3,
typical for burial mounds of this period. The unit of height in this
ratio is 6.25 m. Amakasu Ken has estimated the units of
measurement for this period as a shaku of 0.231 m, and a bu (six
times as long) of 1.386 m. According to Amakasu’s figures, the
length of 6.25 m is about 4.5 times as long as 1 bu. The radius of
the plan of the round part of Tsukuriyama is 100 m, 16 times as long
as the unit length of 6.25 m. The Kondayama tomb in Osaka prefecture
adopted a unit length 5 times as long as 1 bu, and other burial
mounds show similar units.
The
construction of keyhole-shaped burial mounds was not based on direct
or proportional copying of existing designs, but rather on
sophisticated three-dimensional schemes made with full awareness of
the structural strength of the mound. The size of each part of the
mound was fixed not as a direct multiple of shaku, but as a value
intermediated with a unit length. The techniques of construction for
huge burial mounds in this period were constantly developed in
response to demands for the enlargement of mounds, and especially
for the square portions.
Keywords: Keyhole-shaped burial
mounds; construction design; standard scales; Tsukuriyama
Kofun
Ancient Mayan environment
use, lithic production, and warfare: chipped stone production in the
southern and central-western Petan, Guatemala
AOYAMA Kazuo and Juan
Pedro LAPORTE
Abstract: This article discusses
the results of an analysis of 541 chipped stone artifacts collected
in South-eastern and Central-western Peten, Guatemala, in order to
provide some insights into environment use, lithic production, and
the role of warfare in the decline of Classic Mayan civilization.
Chert is a microcrystal rock that forms in sedimentary deposits such
as limestone. The limestone regions in the Mayan lowlands contain
chert in various qualities and sizes. Chipped chert artifacts were
mainly used in daily maintenance activities or warfare. From the
Late Preclassic to the Late Classic, utilitarian tools were
produced, such as oval bifaces, bifacial picks, and bifacial points
for thrusting spears. The most distinctive palette from Ixtonton,
which is similar to royal and elite scribal tools at Aguateca, were
manufactured from very large flakes of chert and were probably used
for the preparation of pigments. Their dorsal surfaces were finely
shaped by the removal of multiple thinning flakes, and their ventral
surfaces were deliberately polished. Chipped stone artifacts were
also used in the symbolic world, i.e., chert eccentrics were made in
anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, or symbolic forms. They served as
portable glyphic symbols placed in votive offerings and tombs.
Although spears were more important than the bow and arrow in
Classic Mayan warfare, obsidian prismatic blade points were present
in South-eastern and Central-western Peten during the Late Classic
period. Indicating that the bow and arrow was present in the Mayan
lowlands earlier than has previously been suggested. In the Terminal
Classic, atlatl spears featuring stemmed bifacial points
became a major weapon type . An unusually high percentage of
bifacial points amongst the chipped stone artifacts at the Terminal
Classic cities, such as Ixtonton, Calzada Mopan, El Chal and
Machaquila, might indicate that an escalation of warfare may have
been one of several causes that led to the downfall of Classic Mayan
civilization in South-eastern and Central-western Peten.
Keywords: Chert and obsidian
chipped stone artifacts, environment use, warfare, ancient Maya,
Southeastern and Central-Western
Peten
RESEARCH NOTE
Chronological studies on a storage pit at the
Higashi-Kurotsuchida site, and on the Incpient Jomon pottery of Southern
Kyushu, Japan
KUDO Yuichiro
Abstract: The Higashi-Kurotsuchida
site is one of the most important archeological sites of the
Incipient Jomon sub-period and is located in Kagoshima, in southern
Kyushu, Japan. Wide-belted type (Ryutai-mon) pottery of the
Incipient Jomon sub-period and a storage pit have been excavated
from under the Sakurajima Satsuma volcanic ash layer (Sz-S: ca.
12,800 cal BP) at this site. Moreover, a total of 155g of charred
nut remains (cotyledons of Quercus sp.) were found in the storage
pit. These plant remains are quite important for examining the
subsistence strategy of hunter-gatherers in the Pleistocene/Holocene
transitional period in the Japanese islands. Therefore, the author
conducted AMS radiocarbon dating on two charred nut remains to
determine the absolute age of the storage pit. The results show that
these charred nuts were placed within the pit approximately 13,400
cal BP, which makes it the oldest recorded of the storage pit in the
Jomon period. These dates coincided well with that of the
Wide-belted type (Ryutai-mon) pottery in southern Kyushu.
Compiled radiocarbon dates from the pottery adhesion of the
Wide-belted type (Ryutai-mon) pottery in southern Kyushu indicated
that this pottery phase took placed during the warmer climate phase
of the Late Glacial.
Chronological studies on important
plant remains through the use of radiocarbon dating is strongly
recommended to clarify both its place in the archeological
chronology and the overall picture of the plant food utilization
history in the Jomon period.
Keywords: 14C dating,
Linear-relief pottery, Higashi-Kurotsuchida site, plant utilization,
Incipient Jomon
Distortion of the
perceived distribution of Jomon sites caused by geomorphic factors on the
southeast shore of Lake Kasumigaura
KAMEI Tsubasa
Abstract: This contribution
examines the possibility that the perceived distribution of Jomon
period sites for the southeast coast of Lake Kasumigaura has been
distorted by geomorphic development. Considering together the
changes in site location with marine transformations of Kasumigaura
and the formation of lowlands, it is pointed out that perceived site
distribution up through the first third of the Early Jomon cannot be
said to reflect necessarily the original distribution of sites,
because geomorphic development of the lowlands suggest deep burial
or erosion of lowland sites. Although from the Late Jomon on sites
atop tablelands decrease while those on lowlands grow in number,
this change in locational trend is not an illusion accompanying
geomorphic development, but is thought rather to reflect actual
changes in land use. That lowland sites of the Late and Final
periods, beginning with “salt-making” sites, are preserved in good
condition atop lacustrine terraces which had emerged as dry land in
the middle part of the Early period, is a characteristic of this
region.
Keywords: Jomon period; Lake
Kasumigaura; site location; site distribution; geomorphic
development.
Reconsidering the chronology of horizontal stone
chambers, assuming construction prior to the occupant's death
KISHIMOTO
Naofumi
Abstract: The Gojono Maruyama
burial mound is a large-scale keyhole-shaped burial mound over three
hundred meters in length, with a horizontal stone chamber
approximately thirty meters in length. This mound is thought to be
Hinokumazaka Goryo; the tomb of Emperor Kimmei, who died in AD 571.
There has been, however, controversy over the chronology of its
stone chamber, and some scholars have argued that the mound is older
than previously believed. The disagreement over the chronology of
the horizontal stone chamber is closely related to the historical
understanding of the transition from the end of Kofun period to the
beginning of Asuka period. In cases where the time of interment of
the buried person needs to be estimated with high probability,
it is important to consider the chronology of horizontal stone
chambers, since there is little other archaeological material which
can provide an absolute date.
In this paper I presented a
tentative chronology of horizontal stone chambers based upon the
assumption that burial mounds were constructed prior to the death of
the interred person.
Keywords: Horizontal stone
chamber; the Gojono Maruyama burial mound; the Ishibutai burial
mound; the Makino burial mound; antemortem
tomb
REPORTS,
NEWS AND APPEALS
Thoughts in a couple of months after the earthquake: report
of attendance at the 57th General Meeting of the Society
TAKADA Kanta
Report of attendance at the 57th General Meeting of the
Society and the Emergency Forum for the Earthquake disasters
TANAKA
Yusuke
Report of limited open inspection of the inner bank of
Kondagobyoyama tumulus and its conservation plan as World
Heritage
OKUBO Tetsuya, SAWADA Hidemi and NAKAKUBO
Tatsuo
NEW BOOKS
SUGIYAMA Kohei. Study of the stone tools from the Yayoi
societies in Eastern Japan
Three new books for children
Encyclopedia of Archaeology for beginners. Archaeology’s
challeng. Japanese history for juniors: Origins of the state.
INTERVIEW WITH THE ARCHAEOLOGIST
Session 1: INOUE Kazuto, Where we are on the research of
Ancient City System. Interviewed by SUZAWA Mariko, OKUHARA Konomi and
ISHIMURA Tomo
REGIONAL REPORT
News from Shizuoka: Construction of the Second Tomei
Expressway and buried cultural properties
TOGASHI
Takashi
VISIT TO ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
Excavation of the Kuraokayama 3 tumulus, Seika-cho, Kyoto
prefecture
OTSUBO Shuichiro
Archaeological sites of Mes-e Aynak, Afghanistan
Ketab
Khan FAIZI and IWAI Shunpei
57th BUSINESS MEETING OF
THE SOCIETY AND EMERGENCY FORUM FOR THE EARTHQUAKE DISASTERS
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES
IN THE FISCAL YEAR OF 2011
MEMBERS’ COMMUNICATIONS
NEWS FROM THE
COMMITTEE