Suku Ruins - Suguiseki

This is a Yayoi period burial site located in Okamoto-cho, Kasuga City, Fukuoka Prefecture. It is located at the tip of a low, flat hill in the southern part of the Fukuoka Plain, and compared to the ruins from the same period that are distributed around this hill, its contents are superior in both quality and quantity. A jar burial site was discovered by chance under a megalith in 1899 (Meiji 32), and important artifacts were buried there, including more than 30 bronze mirrors from the Western Han Dynasty, a thin bronze sword, more than eight bronze spears and halberds, glass bi, glass magatama, and tubular beads, and it has since become an important site in the academic world. It is known that jar burial sites are widely distributed on this plateau, and subsequent discoveries of mirrors, bronze and iron tools, and beads have been made one after another. Excavations were carried out in parts of the site by Kyoto Imperial University in 1929 (Showa 4), Kyushu University in 1962 (Showa 37), and the Fukuoka Prefectural Board of Education, which produced many results, but they were all destroyed by residential development before a full understanding could be made. In 1979, a new jar burial ground was excavated on the south side of the hill, attracting attention in particular with the unearthing of molds for small bronze bells made in Korea. The differences seen between the group of graves that make up the Suku site, and between the group of jar burial grounds within the cemetery, suggest that social disparities had already arisen at this time, making this an important site for shedding light on Yayoi period society.

[Hiroaki Takakura]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

福岡県春日(かすが)市岡本町に所在する弥生(やよい)時代の墳墓遺跡。福岡平野南部の低平な丘陵の先端に位置し、この丘陵を中心として分布する同時期の遺跡に比べて、その内容は質、量ともに首座を占めるものである。1899年（明治32）偶然発見された巨石下の甕棺墓(かめかんぼ)には前漢銅鏡三十数面、細形銅剣、銅矛(どうほこ)・銅戈(どうか)8口以上、ガラス璧(へき)、ガラス勾玉(まがたま)・管玉(くだたま)など重要な遺物が副葬されており、以来学界の重視するところとなった。この台地上には広範に甕棺墓の分布することが知られており、その後も鏡、青銅器、鉄器、玉類などの発見が相次いだ。その一部は1929年（昭和4）京都帝国大学、62年（昭和37）九州大学、福岡県教育委員会によって発掘調査が実施され多くの成果をあげたが、全体的な把握のなされる前に宅地造成のため消滅した。79年には丘陵の南側で新たに甕棺墓地が調査され、ことに朝鮮製小銅鐸(どうたく)鋳型の出土で注目を浴びた。こうした須玖遺跡を構成する墓地群、あるいは墓地内の甕棺墓群の相互間にみられる差異は、すでにこの時期に社会的格差の生じていたことを示唆し、弥生時代社会を解明する重要な遺跡である。

［高倉洋彰］

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