Where can I find real historian/archaeologists talking about the asuka Nara stones?

by L_Nombre

Everywhere I look for these stones I can only find crackpot conspiracy theorists that think it’s an ancient spaceship. Is there any real reading I can do on this subject?

y_sengaku

I suppose you mean Ishibutai Megalithic tumulus ('Ishibutai Kofun'), right?

Main archaeological excavations of this monument was conducted by the project team of Kyoto University during 1930s and 1950s, and probably due to the fact that they were reasonably extensive in accordance with this period's standard, little additional excavation has been done after these two main ones.

A part of these excavations report (pictures and films) can be checked at: http://exhibit.rra.museum.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ishibutai/index.html (unfortunately mostly in Japanese only)

As for the historical background of this tumulus, we know little to be added since these two excavations. All we can say is:

  1. This tumulus is probably one of the last built kofuns in Nara/ Asuka region. After that, the transition from the burial mound to the cremation burial occurred under the influence of the Buddhism.
  2. The current megalithic-like form is definitely not the original landscape of the monument. The upper soil have probably been removed in course of time, but we don't know when and why.
  3. Neither have we a definite clue to identify who was exactly the buried person there, though it is generally said that he was Umako SOGA, one of the powerful leader of Clan Soga in Yamato government.

(Added):

  • The monument itself as well as the introduction post of the monument (again in Japanese only, sorry) can be seen in this digital archive of Gifu Women's University
  • The following introductory video, published in 2012, is a 'official' one by the local government, Asuka Village, Nara pref., and it seems to at least be based on the standard academic researches (a few archaeologist specialists supervised it), though I cannot guarantee the quality of auto-generated English subtitle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRooOSmVByg

I afraid we have difficulty in finding any reliable English introduction to Kofun Period Japan, so, as a general introduction (unfortunately not so useful for Nara-Asuka context in OP, though), I recommend the following English translated interview with the professor specialized in Ancient Japan: https://www.meiji.ac.jp/cip/english/research/opinion/Toru_Wakasa.html