Photo/Illutration The stone coffin grave at the Yoshinogari Ruins in Saga Prefecture after the excavation work was completed on June 14 (Satoshi Juyanagi)

YOSHINOGARI, Saga Prefecture—No human remains nor burial accessories were found after soil was removed from an ancient stone coffin unearthed at the Yoshinogari Ruins here, the Saga prefectural government said June 14.

Speculation was rife that someone in power was buried in the stone coffin, which dates back to the second half of the Yayoi Period (c. 1000 B.C.-250 A.D.), when the Yamatai state is believed to have existed.

But the excavation work, which wrapped up on June 14, could not unravel the mystery.

“It’s regrettable that we didn’t find either burial accessories or human bones, which would have given us the best hint as to who was buried in the coffin,” said Takashi Shirakihara, director of the prefectural government’s cultural property protection and utilization department.

However, researchers have not given up on the identification study.

They will check for DNA in the soil that filled the coffin, which could reveal the sex of the person who was buried, officials said.

The central government has designated the Yoshinogari Ruins as a site of special historic interest. It is located in Yoshinogari town and Kanzaki, both in Saga Prefecture.

The stone coffin was unearthed there in April.

Officials on June 14 found that the coffin’s base did not have a stone panel. Instead, it was just soil.

Baseless stone coffins were typical during the second half of the Yayoi Period.

Shirakihara said that if human bones or organic burial accessories had been in the coffin, the soil that entered the coffin might have caused them to decompose.

The researchers also found red pigment in a 4- to 5-centimeter-long portion located at the northwest side of the coffin base.

Earlier this month, they discovered red pigment in the upper part of the soil in the coffin.

Prefectural officials now believe that the entire inside of the coffin was painted red.

Shirakihara has said that in the Yayoi Period, red pigment was used for graves of influential people.

“We don’t know the level of power of the person (buried in the coffin), but we believe the person was of a certain rank,” he said.

Officials have posited this theory based not only on the red pigment in the coffin but also on the fact that it was located on a hill with a good view, and the grave pit was noticeably large.

The red pigment did not decompose because it is mineral, officials said.

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A stick points to a portion of the base of the stone coffin where red pigment was found on June 14. (Satoshi Juyanagi)

The prefectural government will now analyze the soil that was removed, the red pigment and the stone material used to create the coffin.

If the soil contains pollen, it might provide information about plants at the site in the era when the coffin was buried.

The ingredients of the red pigment could reveal where they came from.

(This article was written by Katsumi Mitsugi and Satoshi Juyanagi.)

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