Munsusanseong Fortress Site

Munsusanseong Fortress is a teme-sik (hilltop-encircling type) mountain fortress, built of stone running like a band along the ridge at roughly eight-tenths of the height of Munsusan Mountain (599 m above sea level). Judging from the pottery and roof-tile fragments collected inside it, the fortress is presumed to have been built to defend the Ulsan and Eonyang area at various times from the Three Kingdoms period through to the Joseon dynasty. The wall traces an oval plan about 850 m long. The sections to the south-west and north remain relatively well preserved, while parts of the east and north-west are considerably damaged. The wall was built by the hyeopchuk method, with an inner and an outer face giving a trapezoidal cross-section, using natural stones that appear to have been worked together with roughly broken stones so that they interlocked. Where visible at the surface, the wall survives to a height of about 50–143 cm. A gate site has been identified at the south-east of the fortress, with traces of a building site just inside it. Large quantities of roof-tile and pottery fragments were collected from the south-east of the fortress and from the summit of the peak. Among the pottery fragments is part of a stemmed dish with square perforations pierced in an alternating upper-and-lower pattern, which suggests that this fortress was very likely built by Silla during the Three Kingdoms period. Some 5.5 km to the north-east of the fortress lies the site of the ancient county of Gurahwa-hyeon, and for this reason the fortress has traditionally been called 'Gulhwasanseong' (屈火山城), though this is not confirmed in any historical document.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Ulju, Ulsan

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물