Jajak-ri Historic Site, Pocheon

This is a regional village site of Hanseong-period Baekje, located on the alluvial plain between the Wangbangsan Mountain range to the north and Pocheoncheon Stream, a tributary of the Hantangang River, to the south. Three rounds of trial and full-scale excavation have investigated 27 dwelling sites, 89 small pits, 11 ditches, and two above-ground building sites. Most of the dwellings are semi-subterranean pit-houses shaped in plan like the characters 凸 or 呂, with an entrance passage projecting to the south, though the living space itself is hexagonal. Sizes vary considerably: Dwelling Site No. 2, excavated by the Gyeonggi Provincial Museum, reaches as much as 23.6m in length, and the use of building materials such as roof tiles and iron nails suggests it housed a figure from the village's highest social stratum. Inside the dwellings, single-line ondol heating flues, postholes, and wall-foundation facilities have been identified. The dwelling sites yielded hard plain pottery alongside pottery types in the central Baekje style; in particular, celadon fragments from China's Eastern Jin period found here are thought to have reached the site via the Baekje central authority, showing the relationship between this hub settlement and the Baekje centre. A large quantity of iron implements, together with iron slag and iron ingots, indicates that the village produced and consumed iron tools of its own. Based on the dwellings' floor plans and the excavated artefacts, the hub settlement at Jajak-ri is thought to have been established in the fourth to fifth centuries, and its unprecedentedly large dwelling together with imported celadon mark it as a political hub for the wider region.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Pocheon, Gyeonggi

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물