GLASS BEADS FROM ANCIENT ROME Discovered In An Ancient Mound Tomb in Japan

Photo courtesy of Kyoto Shimbun

Okay, this has nothing to do with the Sabina, but I found this really interesting. Some of you may know that I lived and studied in Japan for about two and a half years in a small town called Okayama in the late 70s and early 80s. A friend of mine from Rome sent me a very interesting article on Facebook today about a recent archeological discovery in Japan.

Three multi-layered gold flecked glass beads from Imperial Rome were found in a mound tomb 古墳　near one of Japan's ancient capitals, Nagaoka-Kyo　長岡京, near Kyoto. The name of the mound tomb is Utusukushi Tomb No. 1. 宇津久志１号墳, which you can see being excavated in this photo below.

Image courtesy of syoki-kaimei.blog

According to the articles, the beads likely date from the 1st to 4th century AD and somehow were traded  and travelled 10,000 kilometers to Japan. The tomb itself dates from the mid fifth century.

I am adding links to two articles in English, one in Italian, and two in Japanese for those of you who are interested.
 
ENGLISH
http://www.silkroadgourmet.com/silk-road-in-the-news-7-roman-jewelry-in-5th-c-japanese-tomb/

http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/06/2012/roman-beads-found-in-japan
 
ITALIANO
http://arigato.blogosfere.it/2012/06/scoperta-clamorosa-in-giappone-gioielli-dellantica-roma-ritrovati-in-una-vecchia-tomba-a-kyoto.html
 
日本語
http://www.kyoto-np.co.jp/sightseeing/article/20120621000144
  
http://syoki-kaimei.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2013-01-26