東広島市長者スクモ塚第１号古墳測量調査

The Chōja Sukumozuka mounded tomb No.1 is located in Saijō-chō, Higashi-Hiroshima City, and believed to be a scallop-shaped mounded tomb Hiroshima Prefecture. Because the northeastern part of Hiroshima Prefecture has many scallop-shaped mounded tombs, the Chōja Sukumozuka mounded tomb No.1 has been thought to be similar to them. However, according to our recent research, there is a possibility that the shape and background of Chōja Sukumozuka mounded tomb No.1 differ from those of other northeastern scallop-shaped mounds. For this reason, as part of “Field Practice in Archaeology A and B” for the archaeology majors at the Hiroshima University School of Letters, we conducted a topographical survey of this mound with the aim of clarifying its scale, shape, and date of construction in August and September, 2017. The results of this survey indicated that the total length of the Chōja Sukumozuka mounded tomb No.1 is 60.0m; 19.5m for the square front part and 40.5m the round rear portion. In addition, various kinds of haniwa fragments of cylindrical, morning glory-shaped, sunshade-shaped and house-shaped ones were collected from the mound. Features of its cylindrical haniwa indicate that this mound was constructed between the end of the 4th century AD and the beginning of the 5th century AD. Based on the results of this survey, the shape of the Chōja Sukumozuka mounded tomb No.1 is a middle form of a keyhole-shaped and a scallop-shaped mound; therefore, the shape is different from those of the scallop-shaped mounds in the northeastern part of Hiroshima Prefecture and the Kinai Region, which were constructed in the same phase. In conclusion, we can assume that Chōja Sukumozuka mounded tomb No.1 and Maruyama Shrine mounded tomb No.1 have a different background from other areas which have scallop-shaped mound tombs, Therefore, the scallop-shaped mounded tombs in the Saijō basin were adopted as a local, unique mound shape before the Mitsujō mounded tomb No.1 was constructed.