Burials of kings or of tribal leaders? Interpreting the evidence from monumental tombs in southern Japan

Koji Mizoguchi

doi:10.5334/ai.0415

Abstract

In recent decades, Japanese archaeologists have carried out a great many new excavations and have added immensely to knowledge of Japan's prehistoric and historic past, but interpretation of this vast body of evidence has aroused controversy. Here the Institute's newly appointed lecturer in Japanese archaeology examines the much debated question of how hierarchical societies developed in Japan between 200 BC and AD 300.

Highlights

In recent decades, Japanese archaeologists have carried out a great many new excavations and have added immensely to knowledge ofJapan's prehistoric and historic past, but interpre tation ofthis vast body ofevidence has aroused controversy
The Yayoi period (c. 400 BC to AD 250/300) is widely regarded as a unique period in Japanese history. It saw the beginning of systematic paddy-field agriculture, which was introduced from the Korean peninsula and ignited a process of increasing social stratification in larger, more integrated and hierarchical social units
In the case of the Yayoi period, the Japanese often try to recognize in it the roots of their modern industrial nation

Summary

Burials of kings?

Jar coffins are a characteristic feature of the Yayoi culture of northern Kyushu Their style changes through time and it is possi ble to classify them into temporal types and establish a fine-grained typo-chronol ogy (Fig. 2). By using this method we can accurately reconstruct the processes by which individual jar-burial cemeteries were formed and trace changes in their spatial organization (Fig. 3). Jar burial S)1006, situated at the centre of the rectangular mound, is the oldest burial in the cemetery It contained a hilted bronze dagger and an ornament consisting of sev eral glass beads. All the skeletons whose sex could be determined (of those buried with bronze weapons in northern Kyushu during the Middle Yayoi phase) have been found to be male,[2] which means that at least eight out of fourteen individuals buried at the Yoshinogari cemetery were male

Calendar years

Investigation and interpretation of the compound cemeteries

Conclusion