The is an archaeological site with the traces of a late-Yayoi period (2nd century) to early-Kofun period (4th century) settlement located at the northwest foot of Mount Miwa of the city of Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, in the Kansai region of Japan. It was designated a National Historic Site in 2013.
Some researchers consider the area to be the birthplace of the Kofun system. There is a theory that they are the center of Yamatai, and six ancient burial mounds such as Hashihaka Kofun are distributed.
Location and site outline
Located in Ota, Tsuji, and Higashida neighborhoods of Sakurai, this large settlement was located on an alluvial fan formed by the Makimukagawa River, a tributary of the Hatsuse River. In the Tsuji area to the east, there were two artificial ditches, 5 meters wide and one meter deep, that merged midway and had a weir. In some places, the banks were protected by driving sheet piles into the ground, and in other places, water collection basins were built, and a large amount of earthenware from the early Kofun period has been excavated from the ditches. In addition to the above, there are many excellent wooden vessels such as boat-shaped and bird-shaped wooden vessels, agricultural tools, and discs with complex arc patterns. Since 1971, the Kashihara Archaeological Institute has conducted surveys and confirmed the existence of six settlements and tomb groups connected by a single water system within an area of 2.5 kilometers east to west and 2 kilometers north to south. There are over 40 prehistoric storage pits and linear waterways on the fringes of the settlements. The bottoms of the pits reach the spring water layer, and excavated pottery and wooden artifacts from these pits is thought to have been used in agricultural rituals, weaving tools, winnowing baskets, burnt wood, and large amounts of rice husks. some 30% of the early Kofun period remains are from other regions, such as eastern and western Tokai, Hokuriku, Sanin, the Osaka Bay coast, central and western Setouchi, and Kyushu, indicating diverse exchanges with each region. The site contains fragments of dotaku bronze bells and large number of Yayoi pottery fragments from the middle and late Yayoi periods and the remains of pit dwellings and post-hole buildings into the Asuka period. Only a small portion of the site has been excavated.
Adjacent to these two areas are the Yazuka Kofun and Ishizuka Kofun, whose moats have yielded a large amount of pottery, and the shape of the moat indicates that it is a scallop-shaped keyhole-shaped kofun measuring approximately 90 meters in length. Together with other nearby tombs, it forms the Makimuku Kofun Cluster, which and some researchers believe (together with the Hashihaka Kofun located approximately one kilometer to the south), to be linked to Yamataikoku or the "Early Yamato Government."
Excavations
The site of Makimuku was first introduced by Minoru Doi in 1937 as the "Ohta Site" in "Yamato Shi". Before it was called by its present name, it was known to the academic world as the "Ota Site" and "Katsuyama Site", and was recognized by researchers as one of a group of small sites, and did not attract any particular attentionShunkichi Matsumoto in his "History of Omiwa Town" (1959), and Shunji Kojima in his " Archaeology of Nara Prefecture" (1965), and Kojima Shunji gave only a summary. However, a plan to build prefectural housing and a primary school to promote the employment of coal mine leavers was brought up, which led to a preliminary survey by Archaeological Institute of Kashihara to carry out a preliminary survey. As a result, a canal-like structure with a width of 5m, a depth of 1m, and a total length of more than 200m was found, and local Man'yōshū researcher Yoshinobu Yoshioka and others suggested that it might be the remains of the Makimukugawa River, which appears in the Man'yōshū. From the remains of the river, special vessel bases were excavated, which have been found at the Kibi Tate Tsuki and Miyakizaka sites. After the fifteenth survey in 1977, the research was transferred from the Archaeological Institute of Kashihara to the Sakurai As of December 2008, only 5% of the site had been excavated.
In 2009 (Heisei 21), several Buildings were detected, and it has become clear that the site seems to be part of a City surrounded by fortifications.
On 17 September 2010, the Board of Education of Sakurai City, Nara Prefecture, announced that about 2,000 peach seeds were found in an oval-shaped "clay pit" (4.3 meters north–south, 2.2 meters east–west, 80 centimeters deep) dug in the 3rd century, about 4 meters south of the remains of a large building. Peach seeds are used as offerings in ancient rituals and are often found in Yayoi period ruins, but this is the largest number of seeds unearthed in one place in Japan.2010年9月17日日本経済新聞 「奈良・纒向遺跡で大量の桃の種、邪馬台国の有力地2000個超、祭祀に使用か」 2021年8月27日閲覧 In 2011, more than six types of fish bones and scales were found at the site, including red seabream, horsefish, mackerel and common carp. They also announced that they had found over a thousand animal bones, including those of wild boars, deer, and ducks.
Main Detected Remains It is about 10 times larger than the Karako-Kagi site and larger than the Taga Castle site, which was a major military base in the Tohoku region. There are also traces of urban planning throughout the site.
Two huge linear waterways, 5m wide and 1m deep, revetted with sheet piles and known as the "North Ditch" and "South Ditch".
South ditch: extends from the Makimuki River near the tip of the protruding part of the Hashihaka Tomb in a northwesterly direction towards the present-day Garoshi Elementary School. The source of the water is the circumference moat of the Hashihaka Tomb. Behind the moat is the Kunizu Shrine, which reaches the present-day Makimuki River. North Ditch: extends from the former Anashi River in the north-east towards the south-west. The source of the water is the old Makimuki River. The confluence of the two ditches is located on the grounds of the Makimuku Elementary School, and is estimated to be 2,600m long. It connects with the Yamato River, which in turn connects to the distant open sea.
Spring water was found at the bottom, and the interior is divided into three main layers. About 150 irregularly shaped circular pits with one side protruding, about 3m in diameter and 1.5m deep, were found. The remains of dugout pillar buildings and the remains of accompanying buildings (a building of the first half of the Kofun period with a floor space of about 23 m2 in 2×3 rooms, the remains of a collapsed house and wooden products with black lacquered arcs, a small house of 1×1 rooms and a total pillar building of 2×2 rooms and wooden products with black lacquered arcs, a stone monument of the former site of the Tamaki Palace in Tamaki, and the existence of a palace residence are suspected. In addition, 17 dugout pillar buildings were found.) Pit-house
However, there were not many pit dwellings, and it is likely that the buildings were built on stilts.
V-shaped compartmental ditch with arcaded panels, earthworks and fence rows Remains of a water-conducting facility (possibly a palace drainage facility) Ritual site (a jasper jade, a cusp, a tubular jade, a small glass jade, and pottery from the second half of the 4th century were excavated from the traditional site of Emperor Keiko's palace in Anashi-Doyodo district) Iron-making site – Metalsmith site with Tsukushi-shaped blowpipe. It is estimated to date from the late 4th century, when iron was smelted in the Kinai region. Fences around the settlement. Ancient burial mounds scattered around the site (Makimuku Kofun Group)
There is also the possibility that many buried tombs, which cannot be seen above ground, are buried underground.
Main excavated artifacts
Earthenwares from the late Yayoi period to the early Kofun period were excavated, and the Yayoi potteries and Haji pottery. According to them, the five periods are Yayoi pottery style V (Makimuku 1), Shonai pottery (Makimuku 2, Makimuku 3 and Makimuku 4) and Nururu I (Makimuku 5). However, the dates are based on the C14 dating method, which may be more than 100 years old. Vermilion-painted chicken-shaped wooden product A wooden product known as an 'arc-shaped circular plate', with a design combining straight and curved lines, believed to have its origins in the Kibi region. Drawstring bag made of silk However, silk was not produced in the Kinai region until the 4th century. Tiled earthenware (Pottery fragments were excavated in 1996 (Heisei 8). Analyses of the composition of the clay components confirmed in 2001 that the pottery was unique in Japan, and that it was made using techniques from the Korean Peninsula. A miniature boat Wooden arrowheads Iwami-type shield-shaped wooden wares a large number of imported pottery (exotic pottery).
However, there is a lack of conclusive evidence to date the site, such as the absence of bronze mirrors, swords, jade beads and iron objects, so it is not possible to say definitively that this was the site of the Yamatai Kingdom. +Proportion of the area of origin of the pottery brought inIse and Tokai region49%Hokuriku and San-in region17%Kawachi region10%Kibi region7%Omi region5%Kanto region5%Harima region3%Western Seto Inland Sea region3%Kii region1%
Artifacts have been unearthed from all over Japan, but most of them were made in Ise Province, which is adjacent to Yamato Province and has had a close relationship with the country since ancient times. Ise Province, which was adjacent to Yamato Province and had close relations with Ise Bay, and Owari Province, which is located to the east across Ise Bay. In addition to the pottery brought in, there is a large amount of pottery that was made in Yamato but is said to have regional characteristics, and the proportion of such pottery is higher at Ritual-related sites (30% of all pottery excavated at many sites). In addition, although these exotic pottery and artifacts are found from Kyushu to Kanto and the Sea of Japan side, there is very little pottery of Kyushu or Korean origin, suggesting that this site had little trade with the continent.
The main tombs of the Makimuku site
Makimuku Ishizuka Kofun Makimuku Katsuyama Kofun Makimuku Yazuka Kofun
Hokenoyama Kofun Hashihaka Kofun
A peculiar site
Although the site is said to be a large settlement, the remains of an inhabited settlement have not been found. All that can be seen today are ritual buildings, earthen mounds, ritual implements such as arcane discs and chicken-shaped wooden products, and large and small ditches (canals) protected by cypress sheet piles for distribution. Many scholars believe that the site was not a residential area, but rather a place for frequent gatherings of people and goods, and for rituals to Mount Miwa around the Hashihaka Kofun. In the Tsuji/Torii-mae area, a 2 × 3 m long digout pillar building and a row of fences running east–west to the south of it have been found; in the Ota Minami Tobizuka area, the remains of a collapsed house have been found; and in the Makinochi Ietsura area, a small 1 × 1 m long house and a 2 × 2 m long building with full columns have been found. In addition, 17 dugout pillar buildings have been found in the Ota Meguri area, and pit dwelling remains have been found in the Higashida Kakinoki and Ota Tobizuka areas. According to Hironobu Ishino, this is "a large settlement site that suddenly appeared at the end of the 2nd century and suddenly disappeared in the middle of the 4th century".
Excavation Report
Ishino Hironobu, Sekikawa Naokoh, "Garments," Sakurai City Board of Education, September 1976. Sekikawa, Naokoh and Matsunaga, Hiroaki, "Summary of Excavations at the Garoshi Site," The Archaeological Institute of Kashihara, 1984.