• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.40-61
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• 2009

A new construction methodology has been proposed on a scientific basis to reason a rational explanation for the structure and the present configuration of Chum-Sung-Dae. This is because there is no way to otherwise explain the gap between our expectation that the people in Shilla are assumed to be and the problems, such as the use of a temporary supporting structure including falsework, the use of a conveying device for stonework and the practice of soil fill, raised when the construction method in nowadays is applied to the structure. Furthermore, it is because the questions, such as the difference of an azimuth angle between the southward opening and the square podium, the skewed circular plan in layers of the body, misalignment between neighboring layers of the body, disagreement between the inclination due to slight sidesway and the eccentricity in each layer of the circular body, perfectly aligned vertical and horizontal joints and the existence of soil fill, raised from the present configuration of Chum-Sung-Dae, also require a reasonable explanation based on scientific evidences, if any. Therefore, the proposed new construction methodology, in which the soil hill outside as well as the soil fill inside the Chum-Sung-Dae may have been utilized as a temporary scaffolding system for construction, is the highly probable one that the builders of Chum-Sung-Dae might have inevitably employed. The existence of great tombs, scattered in Hwang-Nam-Dong close to Chum-Sung-Dae, implies that the people of Shilla might have accepted the proposed new construction methodology as a natural one.