Ancient Tombs in Okjeon, Hapcheon

Perhaps a thousand tombs stand on this bluff above the Hwang river, of which eighteen large ones — twenty to thirty metres across — cluster together. They run from the fourth century to the early sixth and include every Gaya burial form in sequence, from wooden chambers through pit-style stone chambers to rooms entered from the side. The finds are what set this site apart. Tomb M2 gave up more than two thousand beads, and with them a whetstone for grinding them — so they were made here, not imported. Tomb 23 held a cap with a gilt-bronze finial of a type not found anywhere else in Korea. Tomb M3 produced four ring-pommel swords inlaid with dragons and phoenixes, the insignia of a paramount ruler. Four in one grave had never been seen before. Whatever Dara was, it was not minor.

Original Text

Where it is

Region

Hapcheon, Gyeongnam

Designation

Historic Site · 사적