Iksan Ipjeom-ri Ancient Tombs

About this place

The Iksan Ipjeom-ri Ancient Tombs are a Baekje-period burial cluster in Ipjeom-ri, Ungpo-myeon, Iksan. In spring 1986, a local resident discovered a tomb by chance and entered it, finding a gilt-bronze crown ornament and other artefacts. An emergency survey by the Cultural Properties Research Institute in autumn 1986 excavated 8 tombs; a further 13 were identified in 1998 during conservation work as part of a project by Wonkwang University's Mahan-Baekje Cultural Research Institute. Of the 21 tombs in total, 19 were identified as Baekje tombs. The Baekje tomb types comprise 11 pit-style stone-lined graves (guyeongsik doldeonnol-myo), 1 front-open stone-lined grave (apteugi-sik doldeonnol-myo), and 7 corridor stone-chamber tombs (gulssik dolbang-myo). The tombs appear to date from around the 5th century and are significant in that they reveal the process by which the burial practices of the Baekje central ruling class penetrated and gained prominence in a region previously dominated by indigenous local funerary traditions.