Photo/Illutration Shrubbery at a parking lot in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, hides a sixth century tomb. Photo taken in March 2022 (Provided by the Ikaruga municipal board of education)

IKARUGA, Nara Prefecture--Shrubbery intended to brighten up a corner of a nondescript parking lot here turned out to be hiding the tomb of an elite figure from ancient times in what is being hailed as a major archaeological discovery.

Archaeologists have been excavating the area located near the World Heritage site encompassing Horyuji temple since spring 2022.

They uncovered numerous artifacts after removing centuries of soil from the stone burial chamber, including two iron swords, arrowheads, items associated with horse riding, amber jewelry and clay pots.

The chamber, which is about 3.8 meters long, 1.6 meters wide and 1 meter high, dates to the late sixth century, according to researchers from Nara University and the Ikaruga municipal board of education.

The stone ceiling was missing, prompting the team members to speculate the stones were used to build Horyuji temple, which was completed in the early seventh century.

“It is possible the ceiling stones were removed for use in the construction of Horyuji temple and the Ikaruga palace, where Prince Shotoku (an influential political leader of the era) lived with his family,” said Naohiro Toyoshima, a professor of archaeology at Nara University and a member of the research team.

“At that point, the stone chamber could have been buried along with all those items,” Toyoshima added.

The circular site was nothing special to look at when archaeologists started digging. It was covered with shrubs and measured around 8.5 meters in diameter and was 1.5 meters high.

However, experts from the educational board had long suspected the shrubbery masked an ancient tomb, and called it the Funazuka kofun burial mound.

But their hunch was only confirmed after the recent excavation got under way.

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