• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.170-187
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• 2020

Dolmens bearing the burial layout and stone coffin tombs of the late Bronze Age were excavated from Samdeok-ri, Goseong, Gyeonsangnsamdo, and grave items such as red-burnished pottery, arrowheads, and stone swords were also discovered. In the case of the red-burnished pottery that was found, it retains a pigment layer with a thickness of about 50 to 160㎛, but with most of the other items, exfoliation and peeling-off of pigment layers can be observed on the surface. The raw materials of the red-burnished pottery contained moderately sorted minerals such as quartz, feldspar, and hornblende, and partly opaque iron oxide minerals were also identified. In particular, the raw materials of the red-burnished pottery from stone coffin tomb #6 were different from those of the other pottery, containing large amounts of hornblende and feldspar. The pottery's red pigment was identified as hematite and showed similar mineral content of raw materials such as fine grained quartz, feldspar, and hornblende. The firing temperature is estimated to have been approximately 900℃, based on their mineral phase. The possibility exists that the raw materials had been collected from the Samdeok-ri area, because diorite and granite diorite with dominant feldspar and hornblende have been identified within 3km of that area. During the pottery manufacturing process, it is estimated that the pigment was painted on the entire surface of the red-burnished pottery after it had been molded and then finished using the abrasion technique. In other words, the red-burnished pottery was made by the process of vessel forming - semi drying - coloring - polishing. The surface and cross-section of the pottery appears differently depending on the concentration of the pigment and the coloring method used after vessels were formed. Most of the excavated pottery features a distinct boundary between pigment and body fabric. However, in the case of pottery in which fine-grained pigments penetrate the body fabric so that layers cannot be distinguished, there is the possibility that the fine-grained pigment layer was applied at a low concentration or immediately after vessel forming. Many cracks can be seen on the surface pigments in thickly painted pottery items, and in many cases, only a small portion of the pigment layers remain due to surface exfoliation and abrasion in the burial environment. It is reported that pottery items may be more easily damaged by abrasion if coated with pigment and polished, so it is believed that the red-burnished pottery of the Samdeok-ri site suffered from weathering in the burial environment. This damage was more extensive in the potsherds that were scattered outside the tomb.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.252-271
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• 2022

This article examines the characteristics of the royal tombs of the late Silla Dynasty with the statues of the 12 animal deities(Zodiac) and estimates the process of change. The features of the statues show a difference in their combination in terms of continuity and similarity of the object in their hands. In addition, there is a difference in the shape of the face of the stone statue, and differences are observed in the orientation and aspect ratio of the statue according to the sculptural method. The characteristics of these statues are somewhat different from the previously studied protected-stone and manufacturing techniques. For example, the Zodiac statues that are flattened from high relief to low relief are known to be decorated in realistic expressions, but they tend to be treated as separate conditions because they do not match the change of the stone. In addition, there was a characteristic that did not show regular changes, such as appearing and disappearing again when there was no balustrade in the tomb. Summing up the characteristics of each part, the Zodiac statues are largely divided into curved angles and flat angles according to the sculptural technique, and the head orientation and clothing of the statue are related. They are divided into two categories and can be viewed as having temporality according to the aspect ratio. These characteristic changes are consistent with the continuity of features and changes in the object in the hands of the 12 Zodiac statues. Therefore, the number of faces with protected-stone changes were gradually increasing in trend. As a result, there is a possibility that the Gujeongdong Square-shape Tomb and King Jindeok Tomb are earlier royal tombs than the Wonseong Royal Tomb. Therefore, the royal tombs of the late Silla Dynasty have a complete, tomb structure, containing the 12 animal god statues, ceremonial spaces(拜禮空間), Shindo(神道), stone statues(石像), and tombstones. This can be understood as a basic motif for the royal tomb structures of Goryeo and Joseon.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.62-74
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• 2023

Much attention has been focused on the Baekpoman area due to the archaeological achievements of the past, but studies on prehistoric times when villages began to form is insufficient, and the Bronze Age village landscape was examined in order to supplement this. In the area of Baekpo Bay, the natural geographical limit connected to the inland was culturally confirmed by the distribution density of dolmens, and the generality of the Bronze Age settlement was confirmed with the Hwangsan-ri settlement. Bunto Village in Hwangsan-ri represents a farming-based village in the Baekpo Bay area, and the residential group and the tomb group are located on the same hill, and it is composed of three individual residential groups, and the village landscape had attached buildings used as warehouses and storage facilities. In the area of Baekpo Bay, it spread in the Tamjin River basin and the Yeongsan River basin where Songgukri culture and dolmen culture were integrated, and the density distribution of the villages was considered to correspond to the distribution density of dolmens. In order to examine the landscape of village distribution, the classification of Sochon-Jungchon-Daechon was applied, and it was classified as Sochon, a sub-unit constituting the village, in that the number of settlements constituting the village in the Bronze Age was mostly less than five. There are numerical differences between Jungchon and Daechon, and the distribution pattern does not necessarily coincide with the hierarchy. The three individual residential groups of Bunto Village in Hwangsan-ri are Jungchon composed of complex communities of blood relatives with each family community, and a stabilized village landscape was created in the Gusancheon area. In the area of Baekpo Bay, Bronze Age villages formed a landscape in which small villages were scattered around the rivers and formed a single-layered relationship. Dolmens (tombs) were formed between the villages and villages, and seem to have coexisted. Sochondeul is a family community based on agriculture, and it is believed that self-sufficient stabilized rural villages that live by acquiring various wild resources in rivers, mountains, and the sea formed a landscape.

• Sim-seong Yeon-gu
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.113-150
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• 2016

Chobun refers to a temporary grave covered with straw thatch that contains a corpse until its flesh is gone. When all the flesh has rotted away, the straw grave is disassembled and only the bones are retrieved. Therefore, Chobun is an example of a secondary burial custom (German : Doppel Bestattung) that is composed of a first temporary funeral for processing the corpse's flesh, and a second permanent burial of the final remains (bones or ashes). The duration of the temporary burial is determined by the time needed for decomposing the flesh of the deceased. Building a Chobun progresses putrefaction and reduction to bone. In the literature of alchemy, putrefaction and new life occur simultaneously. The purpose of rotting is to make the flesh disappear, leaving only its essence. It is making the physical body enter a spiritual state, so that the dead can enter into a different world. One must endure the unstable rotting process until the smell of flesh has faded. The rotting process is the attitude of accepting the terrible, polluted aspect of the corpse, while maintaining a helpless, passive posture, in order to allow new possibilities. When we try to approach an archetypal aspect of the unconscious, it is often experienced in threatening, aggressive ways. In the individuation process, the unconscious offers us the blessing of a new spiritual awakening and renewed sense of life, only when we have the courage to see this terrifying and contaminated side of our psyche. This is exactly what putrefaction means. Bone and skeleton symbolize the indestructible, imperishable, and essential elements of life. Bone is the minimum unit and foundation for regeneration, where new life can grow. Reduction to bone is moving back to the origin of life, to the womb. Psychologically, it means discarding one's ego-centeredness and allowing the Self to lead the entire process of individuation. Going through the painful process of reduction to a skeleton for the purpose of further development is a declaration of the death of the ego, aiming at the liberation from perishable flesh and acquisition of the spiritual, regenerative, and immortal elements of life. Chobun also denotes the yearly decay and revival of life, especially of vegetal life. In Chobun, this symbolic meaning of the vegetal cycle of life is emphasized to represent the part of life that survives even after death. Vegetation related to Chobun deals with the continuity of life and psychologically with the Self. Images of vegetation are closely related to the existence of life beyond death, which is the existence of the Self, the source of energy that constantly renews and rejuvenates the consciousness.

• Bangmulgwan gwa yeongu (The National Museum of Korea Journal)
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• v.1
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• pp.150-173
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• 2024

The Gyeongsang region experienced an epoch-making social transformation approximately around the second to first century BCE, including the replacement of Bronze Age types of tombs (such as dolmens, stone cist tombs, and earthen tombs with flat capstones) with clusters of wooden coffin tombs and the emergence of wajil pottery (soft stoneware) and ironware. These shifts in the archaeological material evidence have been discussed in the context of the formation of the states that comprised the three Han confederacies and in relation to wooden coffin tombs built in later periods. This paper explicates the appearance of clustered wooden coffin tombs with accompanying ironware by categorizing them. In particular, it examines the emergence of wooden coffin tombs by creating the Wolseong-dong type, which differs from Tomb No. 5 in Joyang-dong and Tomb No. 1 in Daho-ri with their deep burial pits and large quantities of prestige goods and soft stoneware items. The Wolseong-dong type of tomb commonly features ironware, including flat-bladed iron axes, oblong cast iron axes, iron wire, iron chisels, and iron swords; a small slender, rectangular wooden coffin tomb with a shallow burial pit of less than sixty centimeters; and pottery of a type preceding soft stoneware, such as long-necked jars, triangular attached-rim pottery bowls and pots, and mounted vessels. There are also a few bronzeware items found in them, but no prestige goods. This study scrutinizes tombs in Tamni-ri in Uiseong, Hagu-ri in Gyeongju, and Hakjeongdong in Daegu by comparing them with the Wolseong-dong type, and it confirms that in Sinseodong in Daegu, Wolseong-dong type tombs and later Joyang-dong type tombs have separate spatial distributions within the site. This also indicates that the Wolseong-dong type is a valid categorization among wooden coffin tombs. Although the rise of the Wolseong-dong type tomb is associated with the migration of a group, I reserve judgement on whether its origins should be understood in the context of the iron culture in the southwestern region of South Korea that was sparked by King Jun's advance to the south or if they lie in the western region of North Korea. Either way, the Wolseong-dong type is thought to be the tombs of a group of people with lower hierarchical status than the occupants of the later Joyang-dong type.