Wooden Nail Among Artifacts Excavated at Kaya Period Settlement Site in Kimhae
A wooden nail that displays the wood crafting and construction techniques of the Kaya polities during the Three Kingdoms period (c. AD 300-668) was unearthed in Kimhae, Kyŏngnam province and is attracting academic interest.
Kimhae City and the Foundation of East Asia Cultural Properties Institute (동아세아문화재연구원) announced that a settlement site of the Kaya period was excavated in a right of way zone during the widening of the Namhae highway located between Mangdŏk village and Sin’gi village in Chuch’on-myŏn.
In the excavation area three clusters of pilings for Kaya-period buildings with raised floors (高床家屋) were found along with 14 manmade pit features, and in the zone between the village and the lowland wet area some wooden pillars (post-molds) were identified.
The lower jawbone of a cow and a lump of iron were unearthed from the pit features and are assumed to be remains associated with ritual features or workshops.
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In the zone between the village and the lowland wet area, two rows of small-sized wooden posts were driven along the swamp and, as explained by the excavation team, are presumed to have functioned as a breakwater or a bank to protect houses from the river water or the seawater.
Within the lowland wet zone a piece of a wooden lacquer-ware dish and a wedge-shaped nail made of wood have been unearthed.
According to a member of the East Asia Cultural Properties Institute, it is quite significant that this Kaya-period village had been divided into a number of functional zones, including a public cemetery, a space for ritual activity, and a shoreline. He also stated that this excavation marks the first excavation of a wooden wedge-shaped nail and that it would attract attention as a significant find that illustrates the wood crafting and construction techniques of the Kaya period.
(Seoul—Yonhap News) Reported by Kim T’ae-sik.
14 September 2010.
A newspaper article (in Korean) is here.