Early Korea Project

An important archaeological discovery in Kyongsan was announced this week. Below is a rough translation of a Yonhap news article from yesterday, with a link to the original Korean version below (which includes photos). More information appears to be forthcoming as the excavation continues.

EXCAVATION OF A 2,000-YEAR-OLD ROYAL TOMB OF APTOK-GUK, OVERWHELMING IN SCALE AND BURIAL GOODS.

23 November 2017

First discovery of a wood coffin tomb yielding three fans; skeletal fragments also remain.

Kyŏngsan, Yonhap News; reported by Pak Sang-hyŏn.

A wood-coffin tomb belonging to the ruler of the Aptok-guk 押督國 polity has been discovered. This polity existed two thousand years ago in the Kyŏngsan region of North Kyŏngsang Province.

This burial consisted of a wood-coffin tomb, which was used in the southern part of the Korean peninsula just before and after the turn of the first millennium, but this tomb far surpasses other tombs in terms of scale and burial goods.

Specialists familiar with the tomb said that this wood-coffin tomb belongs to a developmental stage intermediate between Tomb 1 at Taho-ri in Ch’angwŏn and Tomb 38 at Choyang-dong in Kyŏngju. They said that it is highly likely that this tomb belongs to a ruler of Aptok-guk, a minor polity that existed in the Kyŏngsan region. However, whether it is actually a royal tomb will be determined through further research.

The Sŏngnim Research Institute for Cultural Heritage, which specializes in buried cultural properties, revealed on the 23rd that it had excavated two wood-coffin tombs, including one belonging to a ruler of the Aptok-guk polity, during the course of excavations at Tori-ri in Hayang-ŭp, part of the Kyŏngsan-Hayang residential development zone.

The wooden coffin of Tomb 6, thought to be a royal burial, was constructed of oak. This tomb was oriented east-west and was shaped in general like the character ㅍ. A log was dug out and the co**se placed inside the hollow, after which long wooden planks were set up on all sides. The form is a rectangle about 80 cm wide and 280 cm long.

Inside the wooden coffin parts of the skull, teeth, arm bones and shin bones of the occupant were identified. This marks the first known instance of an ancient wood-coffin tomb yielding such human remains. A variety of burial goods were recovered from inside and outside the burial, including bronze mirrors, bronze daggers, iron daggers, bronze horse-shaped artifacts, and bracelets.

Of particular interest among the burial goods are what are thought to have been fans, to which feathers were once attached. One had been placed over the face of the deceased, while two others are thought to have been held in each of the hands.

Researchers emphasized that while examples of one or two fans had been found covering the face of the deceased in wood-coffin burials at Taho-ri in Ch’angwŏn, Yesan-ni in Sŏngju, Ponghwang-dong in Kimhae, and Amnyang-myŏn in Kyŏngsan, the present discovery marks the first case in which three fans were found in a single burial.

A bronze mirror measuring 10 cm in diameter was found upon the shoulders of the deceased. Researchers explained that it is very similar to the mirror from Tomb 38 at Choyang-dong in Kyŏngju. Further, an Illumination mirror (昭明鏡) was found beneath the arm bones of the deceased.

Some 26 flat iron axes have been discovered on the floor of the tomb, and more are expected to be found during further investigation.

According to a person associated with the Sŏngnim Research Institute for Cultural Heritage, “It is possible that there is a waist pit beneath the wooden coffin. Since such waist pits usually contain valuable burial goods, further research may yield additional artifacts once the wooden coffin has been removed.”
The problem is that the wooden coffin is in a very weak state. Specialists stated that “We seem to be in a situation in which we have to choose between the wooden coffin and the artifacts,” and advised that “the conservation process must be expedited.”

This tomb was placed with mountains to the north and the Kŭmho River to the south. A number of wood-coffin tombs have been discovered in the vicinity of the Kŭmho, a tributary of the Naktong River.

http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/bulletin/2017/11/22/0200000000AKR20171122187651005.HTML

A retrospective on the EKP is being published in serial format (English and Korean) on the IKAA website. http://www.ikaa.or.kr/

New EKP publication: The History and Archaeology of the Koguryo Kingdom. Published and soon to be available.

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