Chungju has once again been confirmed as an ancient historical city.

Researchers recently excavated some 19 bronze artifacts from a Wooden chamber tomb with a stone mound (積石木棺墓), in Hoam-dong, Chungju, Chungcheongbuk-do, including seven Korean Bronze Age swords (細形銅劍), one bronze Mirror with Slim Linear Design (多紐細文鏡) and one Bronze Axe (銅斧).


In August 2014, the Jungwon Cultural Properties Institute started to excavate at a new site where a sports complex is due to be built. They found a wooden chamber tomb with a stone mound and two wooden coffin tombs (木棺墓), prevalent during the early Iron Age. For the wooden chamber tomb, a square pit was dug and a wooden coffin was placed inside of it. The coffin was then covered with stones. The tomb was built to have two floors, or levels. The coffin was placed on the lower floor while the upper floor was filled with river stones (川石).





The tomb seems to have been built during the first or second century B.C., and it belonged to an elder of a clan (首長) from the Chungju area. So far, wooden chamber tombs with stone mounds have only been found in Jeollanam-do (South Jeolla Province) and in Chungcheongnam-do (South Chungcheong Province). It is rare for such a tomb to be discovered in Chungcheongbuk-do.

In addition, the collection of 19 artifacts, including the Bronze Age swords and the bronze mirror, is the biggest discovery of its kind in Korea in terms of the number of items and the types of items. Up until now, Bronze Age swords and bronze mirrors had only been found in Jeollanam-do and Gyeongsangnam-do (South Gyeongsang Province).

"It is very meaningful that high-quality bronze artifacts were found in such large number, as well as prestige goods (威勢品), which show the high status of the buried person, such as the bronze mirror with the pattern of fine lines," said Kim Derk-moon, a senior researcher at the Jungwon National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage. "The tomb must have belonged to a leader of an influential group or a king of a small kingdom."

"There is no record of the tomb, but it is proof that Chungju must have been a stronghold in the Namhangang River region during ancient times. There are still many areas that have not been excavated, and there is the possibility that when there are more discoveries made from further excavations in the future, the details of an ancient civilization could be unveiled."

By Wi Tack-whan, Limb Jae-un
Korea.net Staff Writers
Photos courtesy of the Cultural Heritage Administration
whan23@korea.kr