Beacon on Geotdaesan Mountain, Cheongju

A bongsudae (beacon mound) was a traditional means of communication used to relay urgent news by fire and smoke: a fire was lit atop a high mountain, sending signals by smoke in the daytime and by firelight at night. The Geotdaesan Mountain Beacon, Cheongju, is recorded in geographical texts (jiji) throughout the Joseon dynasty, from the Sejong Sillok Jiriji (Geographical Appendix to the Veritable Records of King Sejong) to the Jeungbo Munheon Bigo, published in 1908. In terms of its route and character, it was the twenty-first inland beacon (naejibongsu) on Branch Beacon Route No. 2, which began at the Geumsan Mountain beacon in Namhae, South Gyeongsang Province. According to the Sejong Sillok Jiriji, it was one of two beacons located in Cheongju-mok, Chungcheong Province, under the name Geochadae Beacon (居次大烽火), situated to the east of the town; to the south it answered to the Soisan beacon of Munui, and to the north to the Soisan beacon of Jincheon. Although the Chinese-character notation of its name varied over time, the route linking it to these corresponding beacons to the south and north remained unchanged from this point until the beacon system was abolished in 1895, the 32nd year of Emperor Gojong's reign. In the late Joseon period, the Geotdaesan Mountain Beacon, Cheongju, came under the jurisdiction of the Chungcheong Byeongsa, the provincial army commander. Various geographical records, including the Yeojido Seo, state that the beacon's staff comprised one byeoljang (detachment commander), five gamgwan (supervisors), 25 bonggun (beacon soldiers) and 75 bonggunbo (auxiliary support households), in addition to the details above. Across different records and periods it was variously written as Geochadae, Geojildaesan, Geodaesan and Geodaeryeong, but its final name was Geojildaesan. Both Geochadae and Geojildaesan are phonetic transcriptions, in Chinese characters, of the Korean name "Geotdaesan." The beacon site was revealed through two excavations, in 1995 and 2008. A long oval stone-walled enclosure (banghobyeok) was built along a ridge running east–west, and within it traces of beacon hearths (yeonjo) and building sites were confirmed. The eastern and part of the northern enclosure wall were restored after the 1995 excavation, and apart from a section of wall running into a bedrock outcrop to the west, the enclosure survives largely intact overall. The wall was built with its outer face high and its inner face low. The outer wall stands 3.2 m high on the south side and roughly 1–1.7 m on the west and north sides, while the inner wall is 0.6–0.7 m high. The top of the wall, where it forms a parapet, is 0.5–0.7 m wide. The stone used is a rough, undressed schist rubble common to the surrounding area, laid in random coursing. Following excavation, five beacon hearths have been restored in a single east–west row directly against the northern enclosure wall. Measured along the outer line of the parapet atop the enclosure wall, the beacon site measures a maximum of 26.5 m east–west and 16.3 m north–south, with a total perimeter of 73.3 m.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Cheongju, Chungbuk

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료