The Archeology Laboratory of the Faculty of Letters, Kansai University and the Asuka Village Board of Education of Nara Prefecture conducted an archaeological survey at the Nakaoyama Tumulus in Hirata, Nara Prefecture, to accurately grasp the size of the tumulus and to create a horizontal stone in the octagonal burial mound. It was confirmed that the burial mound was provided, and the structure inside the stone burial mound was clarified with elaborate processing techniques and red coating.The Kansai University Archeology Laboratory believes that the possibility of the Emperor's Mausoleum has increased.
According to Kansai University, the survey has been conducted since September to clarify the entire structure and scale of the Nakaoyama Tumulus.As a result, a three-tiered structure with a height of 9 meters or more was found in the central mound, and a triple stone paving was found on the outside.
Inside, a stone chamber containing the remains of the cremated burial was constructed of 10 megaliths.The surface of the stone has been polished, and no such stone chamber has been found in other burial mounds of the same period.The stone chamber, which is about 0.9 meters square, was all painted with mercury cinnabar.
The total weight of the stone used is about 560 tons.Professor Fumitaka Yoneda of the Faculty of Letters, Kansai University estimates that about 2 workers have been mobilized.This number is four times that of the nearby Takamatsuzuka Tumulus, which is famous for its colorful mural paintings.It is highly possible that the burial person is the emperor or a similar person because of the excellent processing of the stone chamber and the octagonal burial mound peculiar to the tomb of the emperor.
Nakaoyama Tumulus is a terminal burial mound built from the end of the 7th century to the beginning of the 8th century. According to an environmental survey in 1974, it was estimated that a horizontal-mouthed stone mallet would be installed in the octagonal mound.
