NABUNKEN NEWS vol.48

Investigation on the Palace Courtyard of the Chodoin State-halls (Asuka-Fujiwara 174th investigation)

　The Nabunken embarked upon the investigation of the palace courtyard of the Chodo-in (state-halls) of the Fujiwara Palace Site from April, 2012, and completely backfilled the site on December 17. The area under investigation measured 1,850 square meters, and the investigation period was over eight months. A summary of the results of the 174th investigation are below.

Large-scale land leveling and buildings
　Through the investigation from April to June, 2012, we identified gravel pavements of the Fujiwara Palace period almost all around the investigation area. Since July, we removed the gravel pavements in one-third of a part in the southern investigation area, and dug down in incremental steps to the second land-leveled ground (the upper and –leveled layer). Accordingly, we identified the vestiges of dug-standing pillar buildings, pillar lines, ditches, holes, etc. Many dug-standing pillar buildings were found at the southwestern part of the investigation area, located close to those identified through the 169th investigation last year. The structual overlap proves that those buildings were rebuilt one after another, and that any of which were supposedly temporary buildings made in association with the construction of the Fujiwara Palace.

Swamp-like depression and wood chip dump
　From September, we carried out splitting investigations at the northern section of the investigation area, in order to measure the range of the swamp-like depression identified through past excavation investigations. As a result, it became clear that the southern edge of the swamp-like depression is located around the northern side of the investigation area, proving that the structural remains spread northward from this point. Furthermore, we found that in the northeast section of the investigation area, a part of the gravel pavements was sunken in an oval shape. After carrying out splitting investigations on the sunken spot, we found a large amount of wood chips accumulated at a lower layer. The amount of wood chips numbered 180 storage boxes, and it is hypothesized that they were produced during wood processing during construction of the Fujiwara Palace. The Nabunken will analyze these wood chips to try to find the real state of the palace construction process.

(MORIKAWA Minoru, Department of Imperial Palace Sites Investigations)

Full view of the entire investigation area seen from the north east