• Journal of architectural history
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.57-70
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• 2022

The Joseon royal family considered the act of burying the placenta very important for various reasons. Accordingly, they developed their own ritual culture of burying the placenta based on the geomancy(Pungsu). In 1661, The King Sukjong's placenta chamber was built in Gong-ju, and later stone objects were added in 1683. Since its establishment, the King Sukjong's placenta chamer have been continuously managed by the Joseon royal family, but During the Japanese colonial period, the placenta chamber was partially destroyed, and now only some stone objects remain in the original site. This study aims to estimate the original style and structure of King Sukjong's placenta chamber by focusing on the stone objects which were discovered through recent field surveys. In addition to that, the stylistic review of Joseon Dynasty's royal placenta chamber was conducted to secure a literary data basis and acquired data were comprehensively analyzed. As a result, Some of the original style and structure of King Sukjong's placenta chamber could be confirmed. The results of this study are expected to help restore the authenticity of the royal placenta chamber damaged in japanese colonial period, and are expected to be a good example in the research methodology of historical evidence of other damaged royal placenta chambers.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.208-241
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• 2010

This study was conducted to examine the chronology of Taesil Seokham(Taesil Stone Boxes) stored in Taesil of the Joseon Palace and classify the styles to discuss how these boxes have developed. By doing so, this study defined the archaeological styles of taesil seokhams in the chronological order. Although taesil seokhams are placed when taesil are first created, they do not have any texts engraved on them and it is difficult to gain information only from examining taesil seokham. However, Taejiseok(memorial stones buried in Taesil) and Agibi(gravestones buried in Taesil) were created along with taesil. These resources were examined and compared with literature records to find when each taesil seokhams was created. The critical elements to consider for the chronological arrangement were both the cover and container of the boxes and the transition of their style could be classified into four major stages. In detail, the Joseon Dynasty's taesil seokhams initially inherited the style of the Goryeo Dynasty to be formed into rectangular boxes. Through the transition of the mid and late 15th Century, the semi-circular cover with cylindrical container became the popular style in the late 15th Century. In the late 16th Century, the style of the previous period was further developed to add some decorative elements, such as projecting ornaments, but the ornaments were added for functional purposes rather than artistic purposes. However, the style went back to the semi-circular cover with cylindrical container in the early 17th Century. From the mid 17th Century, various styles appeared with ornaments only on the cover, cone-shaped cover with no ornament, or mortar-like container. However, a new style of cone-shaped cover with ornament emerged between the early and mid 18th Century and continued to stay until the mid 18th Century. In the mid 18th Century, the cover remained unchanged, but the container became a keyhole-shaped space with one side forming a "ㄷ" shape. However, in the late 18th Century, the most typical style of the semi-circular cover with cylindrical container reappeared to show that this is the most universal style. Last, in the mid 19th Century, the cover changed from semi-circular to rectangular with flat top. After this, the taesil seokhams began to disappear. In terms of style, it can be classified into four stages. In the early Joseon Dynasty, the taesil seokhams were underdeveloped and inherited the style of the Goryeo Dynasty (Stage I; 1401~mid-15C), but Joseon's unique style began to develop from the late 15th Century (Stage II; 1477~1641). After that, partial ornaments were added for adornment (Stage III; 1660~1754), but the typical style reappeared in the late 18th Century to finally degrade in the late Joseon Dynasty of the mid 19th Century (Stage IV; 1790~1874). This arrangement of style and chronology would greatly help archaeologists anticipate the time and owner of taesil seokhams even if only taesil seokhams are discovered without any records. * Tae(胎) : Placenta and umbilical cord * Taesil(胎室) : A facility(chamber) of burying Tae(胎) in rite when royal descendants are born.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.76-101
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• 2013

In this article, we examine the Taeshil of King Jungjo, the 22nd King of the Joseon dynasty located in Yongwol, Gangwondo. The Jangtae culture - burial of the navel cord - is a unique Royal ritual which began during the Shilla dynasty and continued to be carried out for a long period until the Koryo and Joseon dynasties. Until today, about 300 Taebong sites have been discovered, most of which are the Taebong of the decedents of the royal family of the Joseon Kingdom. Most Taeshils built for Kings of the Joseon dynasty were destroyed during the Japanese colonial period, among which only a few have been recovered and managed across the nation. The Taeshil of King Jungjo is one of the leading examples among existing Taeshils in Korea which has managed to preserve well enshrined relics as well as literature documents including stone relics in perfect sets. Thus, in order to examine the Taeshil of King Jungjo comprehensively, first of all literary materials related to the construction of King Jungjo's Taeshil such as the Josunwangjosilrok - "Annals of the Choson Dynasty (朝鮮王朝實錄)". "Jungjongdaewang Taesilgabong Euigwe (正宗大王胎室加封儀軌) - Royal activities related to Taeshil, and local historic documents etc were searched and put together, while a focus was placed on examining the geographical location and state of the Taebong, including the specific style of each part of the Taeshil stone and characteristics of enshrined relics. Such materials are believed to have important utility in the future as a basic material to be used for research, maintenance, and restoration of Taeshil relics. So far, Taeshil relics is a field that has not been able to attract much attention from the academic world, however attention has begun to be paid to Taeshil relics due to recent archaeological excavations as well as an approach to artistic history. Academic research results are expected if Taeshil relics are able to be examined comprehensively in future covering various areas such as literature history, archaeology, and artistic history etc.