Pyeongtaek Bipasan Mountain Fortress Site

Bipasan Mountain Fortress Site stands on Bipasan, a 102.2 m peak in Yongseong-ri, Anjung-eup, Pyeongtaek. The mountain is said to take its name from its shape, said to resemble a bipa (a pear-shaped lute). It is a strategic point from which the Charyeong Mountains can be seen to the east, the Asanman Bay area to the south, and the West Sea coast to the west and north. The fortress is a pyeongsanseong — a fortress combining hill and plain — shaped like a winnowing basket, taking in both the summit of Bipasan and the flat land of Dwitgol in Yongseong-ri. The wall has a circumference of 1,622 m, making it the largest of the fortresses in the vicinity. Excavation has shown that the wall is an earthen rampart built by the pandeok (rammed-earth) method. After levelling the foundation of the wall and setting out a row of base stones at regular intervals, the core rampart was first built up by alternating layers of clayey and sandy soil rammed in courses. A layer of broken roof tiles was then laid over the base, both inside and outside the core rampart, and inner and outer cladding ramparts were added to complete the earthen wall. Projecting bastions (chi) were installed where the wall changes direction, and there appear to have been around four gates. This construction method appears from the late Unified Silla period onward, and, judging from the artefacts excavated from the wall, Bipasan Mountain Fortress seems to have been built in the early Goryeo period. A roof tile bearing the inscription 'Geondeok 3' (乾德三年) was excavated from the soil used to build the wall, indicating that the fortress was built after 965, the 16th year of Goryeo's King Gwangjong. The Pyeongtaek region, called Geoseong-hyeon during the Unified Silla period, was renamed Yongseong-hyeon in the Goryeo period. In the Goryeo period, the seat of local administration also moved from mountain fortresses to fortresses on level ground. It therefore appears that the administrative seat of Geoseong-hyeon, formerly at Jamisan Mountain Fortress, was moved to Bipasan Mountain Fortress to serve as the seat of Yongseong-hyeon. The excavation of a roof tile inscribed 'Geoseong' (車城) within the fortress shows that it continued to be called Geoseong-hyeon for some time even after being renamed Yongseong-hyeon. Bipasan Mountain Fortress is an important site demonstrating the shift, between the Unified Silla and Goryeo periods, of the administrative seat of local government from stone fortress to earthen fortress, and from mountain fortress to a fortress combining hill and plain.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물