SOIL WATER CONTROL FOR CONSTRUCTION OF ANCIENT MOUNDED TOMBS AND ITS TRANSITION IN EAST ASIA

Abstract

 For the wooden compartment burial under the ground in the middle Yellow River basin under less rainfall and semi-dry climate, some kinds of soil water control were performed such as surrounding the compartment by charcoal and impervious clay. This burial style spread to the middle-lower Chang River basin and the Korean Peninsula. Burial in the mounds in the lower Chang River basin, Tudunmu in Chinese, in order to avoid soil water under humid climate, changed to burial mounds with burial jars in the Northern Kyushu. After that, this developed to burial mounds with stone chamber (tumulus or Kofun in Japanese). Some kinds of soil water control in these tumuli can be found with times.

 Kerns started in the Northeastern region of China are burials in filled gravel stones, and developed to large sized kerns with stone chamber. In the Northern Kyushu, kerns constructed using coast gravels in the Tumulus era are very simple burial compared with tumuli. And any special soil water control can’t be found. Concerning dolmens, except of dolmens with burial jar in the Northern Kyushu, there is no soil water control. Burial jars can be considered as one of the soil water control by Yayoi ancient people.