• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.55 no.1
• /
• pp.35-50
• /
• 2022

The Korean cultural heritage protection act, enacted in 1962, is known to have been enacted in imitation of the Japanese cultural heritage protection act. The Japanese law differs from the current law dealing with intangible cultural heritage, folklore materials, and buried cultural properties. The Japanese law was enacted in consultation with the GHQ, and reflected the historical issues at the time of the enactment. Recently, in Japan, GHQ documents have been released and so research on the cultural heritage protection act is carried out. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the meaning and achievements of the Japanese cultural heritage protection act before comparing it with the Korean law. GHQ stipulated the emperor as a symbolic entity in the Japanese constitution and prescribed the country as a liberal democracy. Influenced by this, the cultural heritage protection act was enacted to identify the people's cultural heritage. Accordingly, the cultural heritage protection committee is a private and independent organization in Japan. The committee designates cultural heritage assets, and it operates as the national museum and the cultural heritage research institute. This system was a part of policy changes shifting cultural heritage management to the private sector. Since many cultural heritages are associated with the imperial family, museums were managed by the imperial family. Meanwhile, the Japanese house of councillors persuaded GHQ, which was negative about including intangible cultural heritage in the cultural heritage protection act. The purpose of this idea was to provide the system of the government support for Japanese imperial court music and dance. In addition, folk materials were included with the consent of the GHQ in that they represent the cultural heritages and the academic achievements of the people at the time in Japan. According to the Korean Law, the subject of designation of cultural heritage is the government, and the cultural heritage committee acts as an advisory body with its limited functions. In the early days, the committee confused the concept of intangible cultural heritage and folklore materials. This was because the concepts of cultural property was borrowed from Japanese law and applied to the Korean law without a full understanding. In response, the cultural heritage committee urged the ministry to investigate the current situation in Japan. The cultural heritage committee, mainly consisting of folklore scholars, was confused about the concepts of intangible cultural heritage and folklore materials, but the concept became clear when the enforcement regulations of the cultural heritage protection Act was enacted in 1964.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.55 no.5
• /
• pp.551-561
• /
• 2022

Geophysical exploration methods are very useful for generating high-resolution images of underground structures, and such methods can be applied to investigation of buried cultural properties and for determining their exact locations. In this study, image feature extraction and image segmentation methods were applied to automatically distinguish the structures of buried relics from the high-resolution ground-penetrating radar (GPR) images obtained at the center of Silla Kingdom, Gyeongju, South Korea. The major purpose for image feature extraction analyses is identifying the circular features from building remains and the linear features from ancient roads and fences. Feature extraction is implemented by applying the Canny edge detection and Hough transform algorithms. We applied the Hough transforms to the edge image resulted from the Canny algorithm in order to determine the locations the target features. However, the Hough transform requires different parameter settings for each survey sector. As for image segmentation, we applied the connected element labeling algorithm and object-based image analysis using Orfeo Toolbox (OTB) in QGIS. The connected components labeled image shows the signals associated with the target buried relics are effectively connected and labeled. However, we often find multiple labels are assigned to a single structure on the given GPR data. Object-based image analysis was conducted by using a Large-Scale Mean-Shift (LSMS) image segmentation. In this analysis, a vector layer containing pixel values for each segmented polygon was estimated first and then used to build a train-validation dataset by assigning the polygons to one class associated with the buried relics and another class for the background field. With the Random Forest Classifier, we find that the polygons on the LSMS image segmentation layer can be successfully classified into the polygons of the buried relics and those of the background. Thus, we propose that these automatic classification methods applied to the GPR images of buried cultural heritage in this study can be useful to obtain consistent analyses results for planning excavation processes.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.52 no.4
• /
• pp.264-271
• /
• 2019

Cheomseongdae in Gyeongju, known as an astronomical observatory, is a cultural monument with great historical, academic, and artistic value, as its unique shape is preserved well in its original form. The outer structure, ground stability, and seismic reliability of Cheomseongdae have been assessed by numerous researchers through various scientific methods, but research on the underground structure has been insufficient. This paper contains detailed models of the underground structure of Cheomseongdae interpreted in 2D and 3D images based on the data acquired through GPR surveys conducted of features in and around the base of Cheomseongdae. As a result, the existence of twelve small features arranged in a circle, although only about half of them remain, was confirmed at a depth of 0.4 - 0.6m. Furthermore, a structure three bays long (north-south direction) and four bays wide (east-west direction) was detected beneath Cheomseongdae at the depth of 0.7 - 1.0m. Other than 2 layers of foundations as is known, a square structure with the dimensions of 7m × 7m is situated at a depth of 0.6m, directly under Cheomseongdae, and what is reading that is expected to be the foundation structure of Cheomseongdae was detected and confirmed. This foundation structure is circular with a diameter in the east-west direction of 11m and in the north-south direction of 12m. The northern, western, and eastern edges of this foundation structure are about 1m away from the foundation of Cheomseongdae, whereas the the south side extends to about 5m wide.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.55 no.1
• /
• pp.63-84
• /
• 2022

One of the ancient nomadic cultures, the Saka is generally regarded as an important intermediary in the ancient Eurasian cultural network. This study is the reinterpretation of the excavations conducted on the Katartobe tombs site of the Saka culture through a joint three-year-long project by the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage in Korea in collaboration with the Cultural Heritage Research Institute under the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The main discussion of the study deals with the burial rituals performed by the community who built the Katartobe tombs by the comparison and review of the various researches on the Saka tombs based on the archaeological artifacts discovered during excavation. The research has shown that the Saka tribes maintained the tradition of burying domesticated animals, such as horses, with its owner and performed burial rituals which often involved the use of fire. The archaeological remains of the Saka also show that the burial rituals like these formed the key aspect of their cultural heritage. The archaeological discoveries also show that the Saka mourners built wooden cists under a single mound when they needed to bury multiple corpses at once and sustained the practice of excarnation when burying the bodies of those who died in the different periods of time. Some burials included a tomb passage which was used not only for carrying the deceased but also for a separate burial ritual. The main discussion of this study also deals with the remnants of bones of animals buried with their deceased owners in the same kurgan, as well as the animal species and their locations in the kurgan, resulting in the discovery of diverse meanings connected with them. The pottery buried in the tombs were largely ceremonial offering vessels, just like others excavated at nearby Saka tombs and located around the buried corpse's head facing toward the west. The excavation of the tombs also shows that two vessels were arranged at the corners of the coffin where the feet are located, revealing the characteristic features of the burial practices maintained by the tribe who built the Katartobe tombs. It may be too early to come to a definite conclusion on the burial practices of the Saka due to the relative lack of research on the kurgans across Central Asia. Excavations so far show that the kurgans clustered in a single archaeological site tend to display differences as well as uniformities. In conclusion, the ancient Central Asian tombs need more detailed surveys and researches to be able to make strides in an effort to restore the cultural heritage of the ancient Central Asian tribes who played a crucial role in the Eurasian cultural landscape.

• Journal of Conservation Science
• /
• v.8 no.1 s.11
• /
• pp.51-57
• /
• 1999

Although the mummies of Lee, Myeong-Jung and his wife whose family name is Moon, were buried in similar sites in 1560's, the degree of decay of the dead bodies and antiquities between two people were quite different. This study was focused on the cause of those differences in the view of engineering concept. Granular soil around the study site shows good drainage and such characteristic could be a factor of excellent conservation of dead body. From the physical characteristics of the material containing lime that is considered to be a barrier from water and air, it was observed that the material around dead body of the wife was more compact and denser than that of the husband. This may suggest that the former is better than the latter in keeping away from the water and air. To understand those differences of physical characteristics between two materials containing lime, minerals had to be identified from the two materials. It was revealed that material containing lime around dead body of the wife contains gypsum and more calcite, which could be the reason for better barrier Preventing from water and air than that around the husband.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.35
• /
• pp.58-81
• /
• 2002

This article exemines YEON-GA(煙家), a kind of chimney head cover, made and used during the Baekjae Period. YEON-GA was recently excavated in Buyo and Iksan, and it generally accepted as a kind of pottery stand. However, this paper will argue that it functioned as a chimney head cover during the Baekjae Period. The design of YEON-GA is the lotus flower bud which were popular during the Sabi-Baekjae Period.It seems highly likely that it functioned to ornament a chimney head and to send up smoke smoothly. It was also found that, beside a chimnery head cover, a chimney body was made and used. It is very difficult to trace the origin of YEON-GA but it seems that it had been used until the Chosun Dynasty, based on the historical documents.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.48 no.4
• /
• pp.4-23
• /
• 2015

Buried bronze objects are naturally corroded by their surrounding environment, which results in producing corrosion layers containing a number of constituents. Corrosion layers in stable condition protect the objects from the environment and also could provide information in terms of the objects. Characteristic and mechanism of the corrosion layers is likely to be valuable information for the conservation treatment. Many research have been conducted to figure out the formation and characteristic of the corrosion layers, but the more research should be conducted with various approach and analytical methods. Raman spectroscopy is one of the analytical methods to identify microcrystal as a compound while other analytical methods are used to identify element. Therefore, the aim of this research is to identify the characteristic of corrosion layers of both excavated bronze objects through the raman spectroscopy. Two analytical methods, which are raman spectroscopy and SEM~EDS, were used to analyse four excavated bronze bowls. In the case of bronze bowls, malachite was found from the exterior corrosion layer and albite, quartz, and microcline, which are minerals, were also found. Cuprite was detected from the interior corrosion layers illustrating slightly different spectrum due to the combined compound. Lead segregation shows the form of PbO, $PbSO_4$ and $PbCO_3$ or it replaced as cuprite. In this study, small number of samples were analysed. This research is likely to be useful information to figure out not only the characteristic of the corrosion layers but also the authenticity of the artifacts if relevant research will be conducted. Therefore, further comprehensive researches on the various archaeological objects and corrosion environment condition are required in the future.

• Journal of Conservation Science
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.247-256
• /
• 2012

Amber has been used as gemstones and artifacts from the period of the Three Kingdoms or earlier, which are discovered in the process of excavation now. It is, however, very difficult to discuss the importing route and circulation of amber because there are no informations available on the provenance. In this study, we acquired the IR spectra of ambers originating from 5 different locations. We also monitored the change of characteristic IR peaks by artificially aging the ambers under heat, light and heat with oxygen, respectively. As the aging proceeded, the intensity of C=O band and O-H band increased, however, the bands related with C=C bond decreased. There needed some modifications in the discerning scheme because some peak disappeared with aging; yet, it was still possible to discern different ambers largely. Therefore, it is expected that the scheme can be used practically by appraising its applicability to the real amber relics excavated.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.190-198
• /
• 2013

Ambers have been used mostly as beads, jewelry and ornaments from ancient times and excavated as a buried artifact. When excavated, they are severely weathered to be cracked, exfoliated and disintegrated. Monitoring of changes in composition of amber according to weathering is very important for diagnosing the condition of amber and applying conservation materials and techniques. In this study, we tried to find the components of amber by analyzing amber with pyrolysis/GC/MS. The changes in the composition of pyrolzates after artificial ageing for 60 days under heat and oxygen were also observed. Abietic acid was detected as a main component of fresh amber and monoterpene, alkene, aromatic hydrocarbon were detected as major pyrolyzates. Changes with artificial ageing was estimated by comparing the peak area ratio of 23 components, and it was found that abietic acid abruptly decreased in the presence of heat and oxygen together, revealing that oxygen is a key factor to the deterioration of amber. It was also tried to understand the weathered surface of original amber gemstone based on the result of this ageing experiment.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.51 no.6
• /
• pp.595-606
• /
• 2018

In this study, we investigated the source area and petrological characteristics of rock properties from the Jeseokri stone-lined tombs located in Gimcheon by analyzing its rocks and source rocks. As a result, the Jeseokri stone-lined tombs consists in a total 11 kinds of various rock types. And aplite (34.5%), leucocratic granite (26.9%) and schistose granite (24.4%) have a large percentage of the rock's composition. By examining the possible provenances, the same rock types and the stones of a similar with metamorphic grades are discovered along the Jeseok mountain valley located to the south of tombs. These findings suggest that the rock properties of the Jeseokri stone-lined tomb were supplied from the upper Jeseok mountain valley and about 1.7km away from Jeseokri. This study could be used for the archaeogeological interpretation of funeral culture and conservation data of buried cultural properties in the age.