広島大学総合博物館に収蔵された地質学関係資料 : 広島城郷土舘(広島市)に展示されていた化石・岩石・鉱物標本 <資料>

昭和58年(1983)に開かれた「広島復興博覧会」の主会場のひとつであった広島城天守閣には,「広島城郷土舘」として,広島大学からの貸し出し標本をはじめ,広島県を中心とした地質学的資料(地質図・鉱物・岩石・化石など)を含む自然科学資料が多数展示されていた。しかし,平成元年(1989),広島城は歴史資料展示館に改変されることになり,展示されていた自然科学資料はすべて寄託者に返還された。現在では,そのほとんどが所在不明である。

本稿では,昭和54年(1979)に広島市によって刊行された「広島城展示資料目録」の地質鉱物の部のうち,広島大学理学部地質鉱物学教室に返還された標本,および寄託者の好意によって教室に寄贈頂いた標本(化石188点,岩石・鉱物・鉱石136点,合計324点)について,広島大学総合博物館への収蔵に伴い,標本の整理・収蔵リストの作成・解説を行ったものである。

The Hiroshima Castle Tower was restored with ferro-concrete in 1953, at which time its second floor was designated a local museum devoted to the natural science of the Hiroshima prefecture area. In 1983, the Castle was utilized as one of the main sites of the Hiroshima Revival Exhibition, with the displays of many geological and biological specimens that were mainly studied by researchers of from the Faculty of Science at Hiroshima University. In 1989, Hiroshima City closed this local museum due to renovations to the Castle, and all exhibition materials were returned to the original donors. Most of these specimens are now out of circulation, except for the collections of the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy (now, Department of Earth and Planetary Systems Science). In this report, we list, with occasional brief explanations, the geological materials transferred to the Hiroshima University Museum from the above Department. This list is based on the "Exhibition List of Hiroshima Castle", published by Hiroshima City in 1979, and on some of the first author's notes related to the exhibition of the geological corner in the local museum.

The transferred specimens include:

1) 158 fossils from the Permo-Carboniferous Taishaku limestone, the Miocene Bihoku Group, and the Quaternary deposits of Hiroshima Delta, and

2) 125 specimens of rocks, minerals, and ores mostly collected from Hiroshima prefecture.

Almost all the specimens are very important for the geological study of Hiroshima prefecture, because the same fossils and ores can never again be gathered due to a breakdown of outcrops and the closing of ore deposits (mine fields).