Seongju Seongsandong Ancient Tombs

About this place

These are the tombs of the ruling class of Seongsan Gaya, located around Seongsan Mountain in Seongju-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do. On the summit of Seongsan Mountain stands the Seongsan Mountain Fortress, and around it are distributed over 70 Gaya burial mounds. Tomb No. 1 measures 3.6 m in height and 13.6 m in diameter; its internal structure appears to be a horizontal-entry stone-chamber tomb (hoenggu-sik seoksil-myo). Silver crown ornaments, a ring-pommeled sword (hwandudeado), and various types of pottery were discovered in the stone chamber. Tomb No. 2 is a vertical-entry stone-chamber tomb (suhyeol-sik seoksil-myo) in which spears, axes, pocket knives, and many pottery items were found. From Tomb No. 58 were discovered gold thick-ring earrings (geumje taehan isiк), silver bracelets, and gilded-bronze horse ornaments (haengyeop). The perforations (tuchang) on the pedestal of the cup-with-stand vessels (gobae) found in each tomb and the crown ornaments from Tomb No. 1 show similarities to objects from the Gyeongju region. Additionally, the artifacts from Tomb No. 58 are typical Silla products, indicating these were the tombs of the Seongsan Gaya ruling class from around the 5th–6th centuries. These artifacts are important materials demonstrating that Seongsan Gaya had close relations with Silla and had no cultural exchange with neighboring Daegaya, which was in an adversarial relationship with Silla at the time. (Source: National Heritage Administration)