Tree-Ring Dating of Wood Elements of Jeongjagak and Bigak for Yungneung

융릉 정자각 및 비각 목부재의 연륜연대 분석

Yungneung is the royal tomb of King Jangjo (the Crown Prince Sado, 1735~1762) and his wife, Hyegyeonggung-the Lady Hong (1735~1815). King Jangjo was the second son of the 21st King Yeongjo of the Joseon Dynasty. The tomb of King Jangjo was originally established at Yangju near Seoul in 1762 and moved to Whaseong near Suwon in 1789. We examined tree-ring (dendrochronological) dates of Jeongjagak, the ceremonial hall and Bigak, the tombstone house of Yungneung. We obtained tree-ring dates of 54 wood elements. The dates of bark rings were A.D. 1785, 1786, and 1787 with completed latewoods. These tree-ring dates were well matched with the historically recorded date of two buildings, A.D. 1789 when two or three year-storage after cutting logs was considered. The results indicated that the present buildings of Yungneung was built when the royal tomb of King Jangjo was moved from Yangju to Suwon. A historical record about the construction of Yungneung, 'Hyeonyungwon-eugye' confirmed the majority of woods was moved from 'Manrichang', an official storage office in Seoul through Han river and Yellow Sea to Suwon.