International Conference on GPR in Archaeology (Nara, February 2001)

GPR Survey at TOMISAKI CHISATO mounded tomb cluster in Toyama Prefecture

Toru KISHIDA, Kaname MAEKAWA

Hideo SAKAI and Eiko KATAOKA

There is a cluster of mounded tomb in the Tomisaki-Chisato area in Toyama Prefecture. Recently "YOSUMI TOSHUTUGATA HUNKYU-BO" [mounded burial (square or rectangular) with four projecting corners] is found and "TOMISAKI CHISATO tomb cluster" is considered to be important in the study of Yayoi and/or Kofun period of Hokuriku district.

We have started to investigate the mounded tomb (structure and the burial facilities) and the surrounding moat by both the GPR survey and excavation study. Here, we will show the results mainly from two tombs (No. 6 and No. 9).

The tomb No.6: Square-plan mounded tomb with 12m (the major axis) and 9m (the minor axis).

The survey clears the feature of moat (structure, depth and width), which is concordant with the preliminary excavation result. We collected the soil at several depth from the trench and studied its dielectric property to examine the GPR result.

The tomb No.9: Keyhole tomb with quadrangular rear mound with 26m length and 3m height, which may have been formed by heaping up the soil shaped from the area of surrounding moat.

The boundary and thickness of the fill is determined by GPR survey and then, the amount of mounded soil is estimated.

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