KASHIHARA, JAPAN—At the site of Asuka, Japan's earliest imperial palace, archaeologists have found a 1,300-year-old shackle for a padlock. The Asahi Shimbun reports that the artifact measures 9.5 centimeters in length, and that its surface is still laquered thanks to the favorable conditions in which it was found. The shackle was discovered intact in a layer of clay in an area where a canal once ran near an artificial pond that belonged to the palace gardens. Experts speculate that the padlock would have been used to secure a palace gate or a noble's chest. “Perhaps a bureaucrat of the time dropped it by mistake,” says Mie University archaeologist Akira Yamanaka. “I bet he was reprimanded for it.”  To read more about archaeology in Japan, go to "Khubilai Khan Fleet."