As it turns out, the earlier mounds are pretty much impregnable. The inner coffin chamber is surrounded by a gigantic pile of enormous rocks. I'm not sure the structure of the tombs was entirely understood until the 1973 excavation of Cheonmachong 천마총, the royal tomb in a downtown Gyeongju park that is open to visitors. (See the minimal Wikipedia entry for more info.) Here's a cross section:
It wasn't clear at first that there was anything valuable or interesting inside the tombs. Anyone who tried to get into one just found a giant pile of rocks.
During the Japanese occupation in the first half of the 20th century, the Japanese leveled a few of the tombs as a source of dirt for construction projects. Under the dirt they discovered the rock mounds and made some partial excavation efforts. They turned up a few non-descript objects within the upper layers of the rock mounds, and figured that was all there was. (Experts now think that these objects were placed as part of ritual ceremonies during various stages of completion of the tombs.)
It's clear now that the tombs are full of treasure. Check out this amazing gold crown that was found in Cheonmachong:
Cheonmachong, incidentally, means "Burial Mound of the Heavenly Horse". That's a name given by modern scholars after this painting found inside the tomb.
Even with the knowledge that treasure is inside, it wouldn't be easy for a tomb robber to get in. It would take weeks or months of work with heavy machinery -- not something you can do in secret. There's another major tomb excavation going on downtown right now, and it's taking a long time.
According to Erma's mother, who is very knowledgeable about local history and archeology, the later Silla tombs are quite different in structure. Their chambers can be accessed through a sort of hallway blocked off by a stone door. These are easier to penetrate and apparently some have been looted. On the other hand, in this later era it was no longer the practice to fill the chambers with treasure. By this time Buddhism had spread to Silla and been adopted by the elites; the Buddhist disdain for worldly pleasures had led to cultural shifts, including more modest burials even for royals.
Superstition or respect can deter people from opening tombs, especially royal ones. But with two mounds now excavated, those taboos appear not to hold sway. Given the cultural gems inside, surprised the government has not deployed full archaeological resources to opening the tombs. Global news stories would lead to establishment of a museum, tourists would flock, the local economy would ignite, etc.
ReplyDeleteThere is in fact a wonderful archeological museum here in Gyeongju, the Gyeongju National Museum (http://gyeongju.museum.go.kr/html/en/index.html), which is full of amazing artifacts from this area, not just from the tombs. They've pulled a lot of stuff out of old palace sites, temples, even ponds and lakes, and of course there is ancient statuary all over the place. Take a look at the crown on the splash page of their web site!
ReplyDeleteGyeongju is a very important tourist destination, and that is the main driver of the economy here. In fact, almost every Korean resident has memories of a high school overnight trip to Gyeongju, it's part of the universal Korean experience. The city is also a significant international tourist destination, although it could perhaps be better publicized. I think the city's current development projects (the city wall, the bridge, and so on) are intended in part to raise the city's profile and appeal internationally.
The tombs are very much a conscious part of people's heritage here. For Gyeongju residents their connection to the ancient kingdom of Silla, the first to unify the Korean peninsula, remain a strong part of their identity. And seeing the burial mounds around the city is part of that. I think the government's approach of slow, occasional excavations is the right one. There's already more stuff from the tombs in both the Gyeongju museum and the sister museum in Seoul than you can see in a day.