AS 201 More on the Makimuku Site
Archaeologists working at the Daifuku archaeological site (大福遺跡) in Sakurai (桜井), Nara Prefecture, Japan, have unearthed a fragment of a wooden mask thought to date back to the mid to late 2nd century. The mask is made of Japanese umbrella pine and bears a strong resemblance to a mask that was found at the Makimuku archaeological site (纒向遺跡) in 2007. Makimuku is a site under much scrutiny in Japan because it is
considered a hopeful candidate location for Yamatai, a mysterious early nation governed by shaman queen Himiko. Makimuku developed into a major settlement during a post-Yamatai period.
Some experts compare the masks from both sites to the ones worn by fangxiangshi, or magicians mentioned in Zhouli, an ancient Chinese text describing the rites of the Zhou dynasty (12th century B.C.-256 B.C.). Exorcism rites involving fangxiangshi, in which a mask was worn on the face and a pike and a shield held in the hands, are said to be an origin of the demon-chasing rituals that continue to this day in Japan.
Full article: http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201305310073
The wooden mask fragment and an artist’s reconstruction of the full mask (Image credit: Toshiyuki Hayashi)
So did the shaman queen Himiko (卑 弥呼) once wear a similar mask when performing her demon-chasing rituals? And will this latest discovery shed more light on the possible origins of the mysterious kingdom of Yamatai (邪馬台) and its cultural ties with China? Only time, and further excavations, will tell.
From: http://archaeologyoftombraider.com/2013/06/05/news-2nd-century-wooden-mask-unearthed-in-nara-japan/
A reconstruction of what buildings at Makimuku looked like.
They have also discovered animal bones that were aparently used in Divination. See this Asahi article:
SAKURAI, Nara Prefecture--An animal bone unearthed from ancient ruins here indicates that a fortunetelling method imported from China was adopted by shaman queen Himiko and leaders of the Yamato State.
Sakurai city’s education board on Jan. 29 said the bone was discovered at the Makimuku ruins, believed to have been a key city for the Yamataikoku kingdom governed by Himiko.
The Makimuku ruins, a national historic site, date back to the early third to early fourth centuries....The Makimuku ruins stretch about 2 kilometers east to west and about 1.5 km north to south. The site is dotted with ancient burial mounds, including the 280-meter-long Hashihaka, which some say may be the tomb of Himiko.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201501300078
More information about the Makimuku site and the ongoing search for Yamatai can be found on the websites listed below:
- Makimuku: A discovery enlivens debate over the country of Yamatai (Japanese Archaeological Association)
- Makimuku Iseki – Remains of large building discovered (Ancient Japan)
- Japan’s oldest known wooden mask unearthed, points to early inter-cultural exchange with China (Japan Daily Press)
- Newly discovered remains of possible palace ruins advances theory that Makimuku structure may have been Queen Himiko’s palace and centre of Yamataikoku (Heritage of Japan)
- The Mystery of Himiko (Green Shinto)
- Himiko tomb in Nara (The Japan Times)
- Mirrors to Japanese History (Archaeology Magazine)
- Queen Himiko and the mystery of Yamatai-koku (Heritage of Japan)
- The Yamatai Puzzle: Where were Himiko’s headquarters? (Heritage of Japan)
- See also this PDF: https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2488
- One commentator is pretty convinced that:
- The Makimuku site is almost certainly the birthplace of the Yamato state, the polity that would become Japan. The site differs in many respects from excavated villages that date from the same period. Excavations have found fewer farming tools and other evidence of agriculture, but more traces of public works than appear in other Yayoi period sites. Large amounts of pottery have been found there from far flung regions, although a similar variety of types are not found in the areas from which they came. One writer has suggested that the location of Yamatai Koku, barring the unlikely discovery of incontrovertible evidence, like Himiko's gold seal, will never be known with complete certainty. But many factors suggest that Makimuku is not only the birthplace of the Japanese nation but also the site of Yamatai Koku. The fact that the building discovered in 2009 is significantly larger than any found at Yoshino ga Ri or any other site from the period is a strong indication, and the presence of many kofun (including one large enough to be the tomb of Himiko) which by improved techniques have been dated to the period of the visit by the Wei Chinese mission seems to greatly strengthen Makimuku's claim to have been Himiko's home.
- And a blogger intersted in archaeology wrote in 2013
as follows:
Long-time readers of this blog may recall that a group of researchers were allowed access to the Hashihaka kofun burial mound earlier this year in the hope that they’d be able to confirm whether the tomb in Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, was indeed Himiko’s final resting place. The radiocarbon dating of clay pots found in a moat surrounding the keyhole-shaped mound had confirmed that the tomb dates back to the mid 3rd century AD (Himiko is thought to have passed away in 248 AD) but further study will be needed to confirm the identity of the tomb’s occupant. So, if archaeologists already know where Himiko might be buried, why haven’t they excavated her tomb yet?
The answer is fairly straightforward: The tombs of ancient emperors and empresses are strictly monitored by Japan’s Imperial Household Agency and archaeologists are rarely permitted to conduct research excavations at imperial burial sites for fear of damaging the ancient structures. Excavating a burial mound, especially one that may have escaped the attention of tomb robbers, would be akin to desecrating the remains of an honoured ancestor. In this case, possibly even a direct ancestor of the reigning Japanese emperor, Akihito (明 仁).** Although a team of 16 archaeologists was allowed to conduct an on-site inspection of the Hashihaka burial mound in February, they were banned from conducting any excavations or taking any soil samples from the site. It’s not known how much the archaeologists were able to learn during their visit but it’s unlikely that the Imperial Household Agency will be approving any requests for formal excavations any time soon.
Even if the Imperial Household Agency were to allow archaeologists to excavate the mound, there are other factors to consider. Excavation is an expensive, intrusive, destructive and irreversible process. Archaeologists are therefore under pressure to record as much as possible for posterity since an archaeological site can only be excavated once. Any information missed in the initial excavation will be lost forever. Only non-invasive procedures have been used to study the Hashihaka tomb so far but none of these can really tell us if the person buried inside (if there *is* a body inside) is Queen Himiko.
- And he adds: * It’s worth mentioning here that some archaeologists believe that Himiko’s clan may have originally come to Japan via the Korean peninsula and that the Hashihaka kofun tomb and similar burial mounds could prove (or disprove) this theory. Although excavations of kofun tombs could yield a wealth of information on early Japanese history and state formation, the possibility that the Japanese imperial family may be descended from Korean royalty rather than the legendary Japanese Emperor Jimmu (神武天皇) is a politically sensitive topic and some speculate that this may be the reason why the Imperial Household Agency bans archaeologists from excavating imperial burial sites.http://archaeologyoftombraider.com/2013/07/30/the-hunt-for-himiko-will-archaeologists-ever-excavate-the-hashihaka-tomb/
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