• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.120-137
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• 2021

There were five palaces built during the Joseon Period. Gyeongbokgung Palace was the first one, founded in the 4th year of King Taejo (1395), and depending on the historical interpretation, Changdeokgung Palace, Changgyeonggung Palace, Gyeongungung Palace (Deoksugung), and Gyeongdeokgung Palace (Gyeonghuigung) were also built. The palaces represent the best architecture of the time. In addition, the palaces of the Joseon period have been rebuilt several times, so they contain the architectural history of the Joseon period over the last 500 years. In this paper, all the excavations of five palaces in the Joseon Period were surveyed, and the foundations of the buildings were analyzed. In particular, the aim of this paper is to investigate Jeoksim (foundations of buildings under cornerstone) to understand the characteristics of each palace by period. Accordingly, the changes of the construction techniques of the foundations of the palaces were studied. There are a total of 23 types of Jeoksim. All five palaces have a certain type (I~V) of construction technique, thus it was confirmed that there was a certain pattern in the method of constructing the foundations of palace buildings in the Joseon Dynasty. In addition, Jeoksim was mainly built by certain materials and construction methods (I-1) during the 14th to the 17th century, but new types of Jeoksim were built in the palaces starting from the 18th century, during the reign of King Jeongjo. In the 19th century, when King Gojong sat on the throne, the Jeoksim was built in various shapes, materials, and in 22 types of construction methods. Up to now, research on the remains of palaces were mainly conducted on the Gyeongbokgung Palace, so it was not possible to confirm the foundations of 17th-18th century buildings, where reconstruction had stopped after the Imjin War in 1592. However, through this study, it was possible to classify the transition periodsstheir features periods of palace building foundation construction from the 14th to the 20th century by comparing the remains of five palace building sites.

• The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.25-50
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• 1988

The survival of rich evidence of palaeolithic occupation found in the Imjin-Hant'an River basin was possible due to many fortuitous geological conditions provided there. Formation of the basalt plain in a narrow valley system which developed during the late Mesozoic insured the appearance of a basin of sedimentation in which archaeological sites would be preserved with relatively minor post-depositional disturbance. Geomagnetic and K-Ar dating indicates that lava flows occurred during the Brunes Normal Epoch. During and after the process of basin sedimentation, erosion of the plain was confined to the major channel of the present river system which developed along the structural joints formed by the lava flow. Due to characteristic columnar structure and platy cleavage of the basalt bedrock, erosion of the basalt bedrock occurred mainly in vertical direction, developing deep but narrow entrenched valleys cut into the bedrock. Consequently, the large portion of the site area remained intact. Cultural deposits formed on top of the basalt plain were left unmodified by later fluvial disturbances due to changes in the Hant'an River base-level, since they were formed about 20 to 40m above the modern floodplain. Sedimentological evidence of cultural deposits and palynological analysis of lacustrine bed formed in the tributary basin of the Hant'an River indicate that hominid occupation occurred in this basin under rapidly deteriorating climatic conditions. From three thermoluminescence dates, the timing of hominid occupation as represented by 'Acheulian-like' bifaces apparently occur sometime during 45,000 BP. Thus, deposition of cultural layers in this basin approximately coincides with the beginning of the second stadial of the final glacial, during which the Korean Peninsula must have had provided a sanctuary for prolonged human occupation.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.88-105
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• 2020

This study examined existing theories of the characteristics of the abandoned tumulus site located at the east side of the Silla era Hwang Bok Sa (皇福寺) site and attempted an archaeological approach based on the derived facts, combining both the results of this study and those of a recently conducted excavation survey. The results of this investigation exhibited the following outcomes. First, the excavation survey revealed that the huge rounded stones discovered on the surface of a rice paddy field located at the east side of the Silla era Hwang Bok Sa were all protecting stones, processed on the front side in the form of a bow, designating a royal tomb. Most of these protecting stones had deviated from their original positions due to subsequent farming practices and some had been re-cycled for construction purposes as fences or foundations for structures built in the Silla era. Considering the prevailing belief in the concept of reincarnation, the bone rank system, and royal authority in the Silla era at that time, it would seem likely that the royal tombs were not intentionally destroyed. Therefore, it is speculated that the stones in this royal tomb were abandoned during construction of the tomb of the King at that time and then naturally re-cycled as building components used in construction sites in later years. Second, this study comparatively analyzed the scale and quality of the supporting stones at the royal tomb site in Guhwang-dong. The analysis results verified that those supporting stones were the same stones from the royal tomb used as supporting stones for statues symbolizing the twelve earthly branch spirits that were restored at the site of the tower at the royal tomb. This confirmed that the statues of the twelve earthly branches spirits sitting at the Hwang Bok Sa site were the protecting stones from a different royal tomb. Accordingly, the conclusion that has been generally accepted to date-that the protecting stones of the statues of twelve earthly branches spirits sitting at Hwang Bok Sa site were probably moved from the royal tomb site in Guhwang-dong-must inevitably be modified. Third, based on the structure of the protecting stones and type of the royal tomb, it is speculated that the individual buried in the royal tomb at Guhwang-dong is one of the kings who followed King Heungdeok and similar times of the buried person of the tomb that was considered as King Gyeongdeok, and who was before the buried person of the tomb that was considered as Kim Yu-sin. In addition, when considering the historical art patterns on the supporting stones of the statues that symbolize the twelve earthly branches spirits, which were moved to the site of the tower at the royal tomb, it is reasonable to believe that the person buried at the royal tomb at Guhwang-dong is likely one of the Kings of the late Silla era of the 9^th century.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.75-90
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• 2011

At the beginning of the Chos$\breve{o}$n dynasty, punch'$\breve{o}$ng began as a simplified form of inlaid celadon, and in the two following centuries it developed into a popular folk craft in various styles and expressive decorations; overtime, it was increasingly made to resemble whiteware, and its production stopped after the Japanese invasion of Korea. In the present study, the body and glaze compositions of punch'$\breve{o}$ng were examined and compared with those of celadon and whiteware, whose compositions have previously been compared with those of Chinese ceramics. Here, the analyzed shards were organized into 28 groups based on their production sites and archaeological characteristics. For each group, the body and glaze compositions of several shards(usually three to five) were obtained, averaged, and compared with those of the other groups. These comparisons showed that the majority of the punch'$\breve{o}$ng bodies were formed, like those of celadon and whiteware, with mica-quartz porcelain stone, which was commonly used in Yuezhou, Jingdezhen, and other southern Chinese kilns. The glazes consisted of clay materials and flux components made from various proportions of wood ash, burnt limestone (glaze ash) and crushed limestone. Overall, the punch'$\breve{o}$ng glazes resembled the Kory$\breve{o}$ celadon and Kory$\breve{o}$ whiteware glazes more closely than the Chos$\breve{o}$n white wareglazes. However, the $TiO_2$ levels found in the tested punch'$\breve{o}$ng were low, similar to those of Chos$\breve{o}$n whiteware; this indicated that glaze stone was used as the clay component of the punch'$\breve{o}$ng glazes, as was the case for Chos$\breve{o}$n whiteware. This study of the material characteristics of punch'$\breve{o}$ng may be used as a comparative framework for analyzing ceramic shards discovered at current and future excavations within Korea.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.246-259
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• 2021

Research has been conducted in various fields on a local fortress (eupseong) in the Joseon Dynasty, but the archaeological research on the prison (獄), which is part of the internal government, has not been conducted properly. Since the prison was first discovered in Gyeongju in 1997, there has been a necessity for research on the deployment and structure of the prison. This includes the office where jailers worked and had night duty and also the enclosure that keeps the prisoners inside. But the research came to a standstill because there was no comparative data. However, compared to the more recent findings of the Yeonil Prison and the Gonju Prison, we can identify that the structure was built during the early to the late Joseon Dynasty. King Sejong designed the standard prison blueprint called Anokdo (犴獄圖) in 1426 to manage prisoners nationwide and revised it once in 1439 to give better treatment during the winter and summer seasons. The Yeonil Prison operated from 1421 to 1743 and shows the structure of the prisons during the early to mid-Joseon period. It was very similar to the Gyeongju Prison on a smaller scale, which was operated until the late Joseon Dynasty with two main structures, one east and one west, and a circular fence. This structure was maintained even in the Gongju Prison during the late Joseon Dynasty, and it remains visible in photographs. The prison of the Joseon Dynasty had a circular fence with an estimated height of 3 meters and two buildings that separated male and female prisoners. The prison was divided into men on the east and women on the west with tile-roofed house structures that were difficult to escape. In front of the circular fence, there was an office with a thatched roof for the jailers and access to the prison was only possible through a double prison gate. The layout of the building reflects the improvements of the king's prison design made during Joseon Dynasty improving the environment of prisoners who are on trial and separating men and women in order to embody humanism.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.39
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• pp.219-242
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• 2006

Quantitative analysis and provenance interpretation of the raw materials for the jade (amazonite) excavated from the Asan Sijeonri site were studied. Geology of the Sijeonri site composed mainly of Precambrian metasedimentary rocks and the alluvium ranges extensively. In the site, amazonite jade was excavated in the Bronze Age No. 4 circular-shaped resident site. The jade has a comma-shaped and shows light green color with so much cracks. The jade is silicate mineral of columnar habits that is shown white streak, and has fine cleavages with vitreous luster. As the analytical results, this jade was identified as a feldspar-group mineral gemologically called amazonite that is mineralogically microcline formed to intergrowth of albite and orthoclase. Internal textures of the amazonite present Na-end member of albite coexisting with K-end member of orthoclase that are replaced each other along the cleavages and twin planes with several ${\mu}m$ scales. Therefore, the amazonite is one mineral phase combined with albite and orthoclase by substitution of $Na_2O$ and $K_2O$, respectively. The Danyang are is an unique producing site of amazonite in South Korea, and Gongju Janggimyeon was known as microcline provenance to the utmost area from the Sijeonri site. In the marginal area of southern coast in Korean Peninsula, Bronze Age amazonite has been excavated in several sites, where original provenance of the raw amazonite is not identified. The Sijeonri site does not show any facilities of producing and processing traces for amazonite jade. Also, only one jade was collected in the Sijeonri site. Therefore, there is not possibility that the provenance of raw jade is the Sijeonri area. To explain original provenance of the amazonite jade, migration path, manufacturing process and archaeological interpretation are required.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.26-44
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• 2017

Regarded as Korea's traditional pond, Gungnamj Pond was surmised to be "Gungnamji" due to its geological positioning in the south of Hwajisan (花枝山) and relics of the Gwanbuk-ri (官北里) suspected of being components to the historical records of Muwang (武王)'s pond of The Chronicles of the Three States [三國史記] and Sabi Palace, respectively, yet was subjected to a restoration following a designation to national historic site. This study is focused on the distortion of authenticity identified in the course of the "Gungnamji Pond" restoration and the invention of tradition, whose summarized conclusions are as follows. 1. Once called Maraebangjuk (마래방죽), or Macheonji (馬川池) Pond, Gungnamji Pond was existent in the form of a low-level swamp of vast area encompassing 30,000 pyeong during the Japanese colonial period. Hong, Sa-jun, who played a leading role in the restoration of "Gungnamji Pond," said that even during the 1940s, the remains of the island and stone facilities suspected of being the relics of Gungnamji Pond of the Baekje period were found, and that the traces of forming a royal palace and garden were discovered on top of them. Hong, Sa-jun also expressed an opinion of establishing a parallel between "Gungnamji Pond" and "Maraebangjuk" in connection with a 'tale of Seodong [薯童說話]' in the aftermath of the detached palace of Hwajisan, which ultimately operated as a theoretical ground for the restoration of Gungnamj Pond. Assessing through Hong, Sa-jun's sketch, the form and scale of Maraebangjuk were visible, of which the form was in close proximity to that photographed during the Japanese colonial period. 2. The minimized restoration of Gungnamji Pond faced deterrence for the land redevelopment project implemented in the 1960s, and the remainder of the land size is an attestment. The fundamental problem manifest in the restoration of Gungnamji Pond numerously attempted from 1964 through 1967 was the failure of basing the restorative work in the archaeological facts yet in the perspective of the latest generations, ultimately yielding a replication of Hyangwonji Pond of Gyeongbok Palace. More specifically, the methodologies employed in setting an island and a pavilion within a pond, or bridging an island with a land evidenced as to how Gungnamji Pond was modeled after Hyangwonji Pond of Gyeongbok Palace. Furthermore, Chihyanggyo (醉香橋) Bridge referenced in the designing of the bridge was hardly conceived as a form indigenous to the Joseon Dynasty, whose motivation and idea of the misguided restoration design at the time all the more devaluated Gungnamji Pond. Such an utterly pure replication of the design widely known as an ingredient for the traditional landscape was purposive towards the aesthetic symbolism and preference retained by Gyeongbok Palace, which was intended to entitle Gungnamji Pond to a physical status of the value in par with that of Gyeongbok Palace. 3. For its detachment to the authenticity as a historical site since its origin, Gungnamji Pond represented distortions of the landscape beauty and tradition even through the restorative process. The restorative process for such a historical monument, devoid of constructive use and certain of distortion, maintains extreme intimacy with the nationalistic cultural policy promoted by the Park, Jeong-hee regime through the 1960s and 1970s. In the context of the "manipulated discussions of tradition," the Park's cultural policy transformed the citizens' recollection into an idealized form of the past, further magnifying it at best. Consequently, many of the historical sites emerged as fancy and grand as they possibly could beyond their status quo across the nation, and "Gungnamji Pond" was a victim to this monopolistic government-led cultural policy incrementally sweeping away with new buildings and structures instituted regardless of their original space, and hence, their value.