Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb

This guide to the Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb in Nara traces how a farmer digging a storage pit for ginger in October 1970 led archaeologist Masao Suenaga's team, funded by the small village of Asuka rather than the state, to break into a painted seventh-century chamber on March 21, 1972. Inside were dragons, tigers, a gold star chart, and four courtly women the press nicknamed the Asuka Beauties. You'll hear how black mold crept across the chamber walls over the following decades, and what the government decided to do about it in 2007. The mound in front of you is, for now, empty.