▲ Overview of the 27th excavation investigation of the Songguk-ri site in Buyeo
In the area of the Songguk-ri site in Buyeo, Chungcheongnam-do, which reflects the lifestyle of the Bronze Age on the Korean Peninsula, evidence of large-scale civil engineering work has been newly discovered.
The Cultural Heritage Administration, Buyeo County, and the Korea National University of Cultural Heritage announced that they discovered traces of piled and flattened earth intended to create a raised ground during the Bronze Age, in and around the ‘Buyeo Songguk-ri Site’ historic site.
The Songguk-ri site is an agrarian relic offering insight into the mid-Bronze Age. Excavations began in earnest in 1975, uncovering oval-shaped pit dwellings with post holes, large pots with outward-spreading necks, and triangular stone daggers.
In this year’s investigation, they identified traces of land construction over an area of about 1,000 square meters.
The investigation team noted that “previously, the layers of soil deposition were understood to be very limited in scope. However, this recent investigation revealed an unprecedentedly wide area.”
It is presumed that various types of earth were used depending on the location where the earth was piled and tamped.
The research institute explained that in sloped strata, the bedrock layer would have been cut before piling soil.
In the vestiges of moats—a form that reveals the structures and styles of ancient civil engineering—created during the land construction, gray and red clay lumps were also found.
A representative from the Korea National University of Cultural Heritage Archaeological Research Institute stated, “There is no known case on the Korean Peninsula where a large-scale soil deposition layer of this magnitude has been confirmed at a Bronze Age site from a similar period.”
He added, “Large-scale construction would have required significant manpower and a powerful social system to lead it, providing key evidence of the societal structure and scale during the Bronze Age.”
▲ Image description: Wooden pillar remains on the eastern side
The current investigation also confirmed traces of a long line of wooden posts.
A ‘mokjuyol,’ meaning traces of wooden post holes arranged in a row, is thought to have been used in constructing various facilities such as defense, ritual facilities, and raised ground houses.
The discovered mokjuyol extends for about 200 meters in two lines on both the east and west sides.
In both the east and west, 19 traces were found, all oriented towards a tomb to the north.
Artifacts symbolizing authority, such as a dagger-shaped bronze sword and short cylindrical beads, were previously found in this tomb, suggesting that a village leader might have been buried there.
The research team explained, “The eastern and western mokjuyol are roughly 40 meters apart,” and “considering their orientation towards the tomb cluster, they could have been used as pathways for rituals.”
The Cultural Heritage Administration plans to investigate the process and exact scale of land construction and the nature of the remains in the future.
(Photo provided by the Cultural Heritage Administration, Yonhap News)