Information
Archaeologists Investigate Japan’s Daisen Kofun
Summary: (Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, via Wikimedia Commons)OSAKA, JAPAN—The Mainichireports that an investigation of Daisen Kofun, a large, keyhole-shaped burial mound on the island of Honshu, has revealed that one of the dykes surroun
(Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, via Wikimedia Commons)
OSAKA, JAPAN—The Mainichi reports that an investigation of Daisen Kofun, a large, keyhole-shaped burial mound on the island of Honshu, has revealed that one of the dykes surrounding it was paved with white stones. The tomb, which is surrounded by a total of three moats and two dykes, is thought to have been built in the mid-fifth century A.D. for Emperor Nintoku. Little is known about the structure, however, because in the past access to it has been limited by Japan’s Imperial Household Agency. Scholars think the mound itself was covered with some 50 million stones. The discovery of paving on the inner dike, which covers an area of about 78,000 square yards, increases the estimated amount of labor that was required to build the tomb complex. “This is overwhelmingly unique,” commented archaeologist Kazuo Ichinose of Kyoto Tachibana University.
Category: English
News
Information
Key words：