• Journal of architectural history
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.101-112
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• 2020

This study focuses on the construction of Gyeongbokgung Palace in the second year of King Gojong's reign, which has been spotlighted for political and economic history. The author analyzed the contents of wood procurement with the Yeonggeon Diary, which records each day of construction site. The results are as follows: First, the 2nd year of King Gojong's reign, Yeonggeon of Gyeongbokgung Palace, was a new building that reflected the old system and 270 years of changed environment on the existing site. Despite the poor economic conditions, it began with years of effort and voluntary volunteer work and dedication. Second, the priority of timber transport was recruiting people in the whole process and the supply and demand of transportation tools. Carrying lumber from the mountains to the riverside and floating it at the right time were all a matter of manpower. Soldiers and carts were used to carry timber that arrived in Hangang River to the construction site. The cart was a consumable product, so it was necessary to continuously use the wood to make cart at the site. Third, fire and flood were the biggest obstacles to the Yeonggeon schedule of Gyeongbokgung Palace. Especially the fire was fatal. It was difficult to extinguish the fire in temporary structure, where was the storage for wood to construct. These disasters greatly affected the construction cost and construction period. Wood procurements of Gyeongbokgung Palace were based on public offerings. At the same time, recycled materials from other palace wood and nearby houses, nationwide buying of private mountain wood, the logging of royal tombs and some of the buildings of Gyeonghui Palace and Changgyeong Palace were relocated.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.87-95
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• 2022

This aimed to species identification and tree-ring dating of wooden elements used in the Myeongjeong-gate of the Changgyeong-palace, Seoul, Korea. Of the 79 wooden elements evaluated, 78 were confirmed to be hard pines and one belonged to Abies spp.. Cores of the wooden elements were collected using a drill for tree-ring dating, and ring-width plots of individual samples were constructed using the TSAP software. The tree-ring dating results for the outermost ring of 58 hard pine wooden elements revealed the following felling dates: early spring of 1604-late fall of 1615, late fall of 1706-early spring of 1707, and late fall of 1828-late fall of 1834. The obtained felling dates of the 1600s and 1800s were found to be consistent with those in the construction and repair records of the Annals of Joseon Dynasty, Gwanghaegun's Diary and Changgyeonggung Yeonggeondogam Uigwe. However, the obtained felling dates of the 1700s were not consistent with those in the construction and repair records. Therefore, additional confirmation of repairs that were not included in the records was possible using tree-ring dating.