A Stone-lined Burial with Liaoning-style Bronze Dagger Excavated
The Yŏk-dong site in Kwangju, Kyŏnggi-do – cremation burial practices also confirmed
A stone lined burial has been unearthed in Kwangju, Kyŏnggi-do for the first time in South Korea. A Liaoning-style bronze dagger with its characteristic violin shape – a representative bronze artifact of the middle and latter part of Bronze Age of Korean peninsula – was buried with the deceased.
The body in the burial had been cremated. This is the first verified case that cremation was conducted along with interment in stone-lined burials of the Bronze Age. This discovery is considered as valuable evidence to show the new cremation customs of this period.
The Haneol Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, specializing in investigation of buried cultural heritage, stated that 29 pit-houses and a stone-lined burial of the 4th to 5th centuries B.C. were unearthed after an excavation project was conducted in the construction area for new apartment buildings in a part of Yŏk-dong, Kwangju, Kyŏnggi-do.
In the burial, oriented along an east to west axis, human skeletal material was unearthed and was preserved in relatively favorable condition. Additionally, one Liaoning-style bronze dagger was found located near the waist along with a functionally unidentified bronze object, stone arrowheads, and several beads.
The blade part of the dagger has corroded away and disappeared and only the central body part remains. The unidentified bronze is similar with the features excavated in Gangshang Tombs of the southern Liaodong peninsula in China, the megalithic burial at Yŏnji-ri, Kimhae, and Fushun, China.
The research institute states that it seems cremated bones had been collected and placed evenly inside the burial since bone pieces from same skull are found in different place. In addition, charcoal and blackened stones inside the burial are evidence that the cremation was conducted inside the area of interment.
One member of the excavation steering committee, Professor Ha Mun-sik from Sejong University, pointed out that this excavation was valuable because of the Liaoning-style bronze dagger that are not often found but also the discovery that cremation was a funeral custom. He added that cremation in stone-lined burials is rarely found in Liaodong peninsula or North Korea, but it is confirmed for the very first time in South Korea.
Original news story (Seoul—Yonhap News) reported by Kim Taeshik (taeshik@yna.co.kr)
22 October 2010.
A newspaper article (in Korean) is here.