GYODA, JAPAN—The Asahi Shimbun reports that Motoyuki Sato of Tohoku University and researchers from the Museum of the Sakitama Ancient Burial Mounds used radar technology to study the round section of the key-hole shaped Inariyama burial mound. An excavation at the late-fifth-century site in 1968 uncovered a sword blade bearing an inscription that refers to King Wakatakeru in a chamber made of small rocks in the center of the mound. A bronze mirror, military artifacts, and pieces of horse harnesses were also found, but no human remains were recovered. It had been thought that King Wakatakeru, who is mentioned in Japanese histories, owned the sword, and that he had been buried in one of the small chambers found near the weapon. But the new study has detected another chamber, deeper underground, which may be an earlier burial site. The scholars suggest that the individual who had been buried in the newly found chamber may have owned the sword, while the smaller chambers may have been added for later generations. To read more about archaeology in Japan, go to "Kublai Khan Fleet."
