Excavation Report of Kitora Mounded Tomb

Kitora Mounded Tomb is a continental mounded tomb(kofun)with frescos like Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb. It has a round mound build by packing soil in two stages, and there was a trace of Koro rail on the floor of the grave's passageway located in the southern side of the stone chamber. The stone chamber is constructed with cut out welded tuff, and red layout lines remain on the stone materials. The entire inside of the stone chamber was plastered and frescos were drawn. Inside the stone chamber, the whole floor was covered with sediment of lacquer pieces from a lacquered wooden casket. The floor was divided into blocks and each block of sediment was carried out of the stone chamber in a container, with a record of its compass coordinates and its location. Among the excavated artifacts were metal fittings of the wooden casket, beads, a long sword with silver decoration, an iron sword accessory, and human bones and teeth. The bones and teeth were judged to belong to a middle-aged man. Creation of photomaps, which is a compound image with least distortion, was conducted for the frescos. As exfoliation of the frescos is advanced, and frescos are being taken out and are going through preservation treatments. In the process, an image of the horse from the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac was confirmed. The basics of the grave passageway and stone chamber were the same with other final stage mounded tombs. Traces of Koro rails were also found at Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb and Ishinokarato Mounded Tomb, stone piling in the stone chamber resembles that of Marukoyama Mounded Tomb, and the stone lined floor of the stone chamber resembles that of Ishinokarato Mounded Tomb.