Gaya Tumuli

After I visited Oksan Seowon and on my way to see Dodong Seowon, adding Goryeong as a detour for Gaya Tumuli seem to be a compulsory for World Heritage Site enthusiasts despite uncertainty that the nomination will be accepted or not. I reached Daegaya Museum on lunch time, the first thing I saw apart from modern museum building and some drivers had lunch around the empty carpark, was the impressive view of many tumuli on the hills surrounding the museum complex. The location of Tumuli on the high hills was really different from those Silla Tumuli I saw in Gyeongju but quite similar to the Baekje one I saw in Gongju, but the numbers of Tumuli on the hill here was already impressive. The museum staffs were energetic by giving me all English information documents they had and helped me get a ticket from ticket machine, they were really afraid that foreign credit card may not be accepted.

The highlight of the museum in my opinion was the tumuli replica that display the layout and burial ritual of noble Gaya. The tomb construction and layout were different from Silla and Baekje or even much later Joseon, and the ritual had many human sacrificing. In my opinion with only these two elements, Gaya Tumuli maybe the most interesting one in South Korea. After the museum I went to another building that built to cover the excavated Tumuli, inside I saw the real version of what I earlier saw in the …

Daesong-dong Gobungun (+ surprise Jisan-dong Gobungun drive-by), June 2023

With an already packed Korea trip, I carelessly dismissed most Gaya Tumuli sites as too inaccessible to squeeze into the itinerary; reading through the (two) reviews on this website, I decided that Daesong-dong was easily my best bet to check this site and see the Gaya remains for myself. Daesong-dong is located in the center of Gimhae, a satellite city of Busan and connected by metro (a very scenic light rail line, to be specific!), the closest stop being Gimhae National Museum. This turned out to be about 1.5 hours one-way transit from Busan Train Station. Gimhae seems to be extremely proud of their Gaya heritage, as the center of the Geumgwan Gaya, among the most influential of the Gaya Confederacy. One can actually see the huge mound as the train approaches the station, probably a casual visitor's best spot for a bird's eye view of the site. Then, you can just cross the street, and voila, you've arrived! Honestly, the most interesting in situ remains were exposed excavations laden with pottery and other artifacts, which you can peer at from the balcony of the building on the side of the mound. Other than that, one can see short rectangular hedges, tombs where excavations had already taken place, scattered all throughout the site, along with a couple dolmens and one tomb with rocks. In fact, what I (and I suppose many others) had assumed to be a huge mound was …

For this location I picked the Gimhae Daeseong-dong Tumuli due to easier map location, with Gimhae also being a rather large town instead of what appears to be in the middle of nowhere to find the other Haman Malisan Tumuli. Parking is just next to the large museum and the museum is entirely free! There is an information desk but the guy didn't speak anything but Korean so I just went ahead inside. The signs are available in Korean and English and are in great detail. I found out much more than expected. They also call this site as being "temporarily" listed as UNESCO rather than tentatively...interesting!

Once you go through the museum you can freely walk on top of the actual tumuli, a large burial mound and reminiscent of the Viking ones in Scandinavia. At the start is a burial chamber you can look inside with a few signs but overall it is just a walk to stretch your legs, making that small ascend for a higher overview of the site, and then making your way down towards the parking lot if you are done here.

Whereas the site is surely important for Korean history I'm not sure what they expect to see as unique value to the rest of the world.

So far 704 tombs have been identified at Jisan-dong, dates range from 400 - 562 CE. The Gaya Confederacy was located between Baekje and Silla, and ultimately annexed by the later during the 6th century. Important elements of these tombs are its connection to human sacrifice, the largest evidence yet found in any single tomb site in Korea. In addition, there are numerous artifacts that originate from China, Japan, and the Okinawan islands. In fact, one tomb even contained Roman glass!

During my visit to the numerous tumuli (tombs literally cover the hillsides), the Daegaya museum, and the Tomb 44 exhibition hall, I learned quite a lot about this ancient culture. Both similar, yet different from Silla and Baekje, I was surprised by the tremendous artifacts being unearthed just in the last couple years.

Being in late June, the heat and humidity while climbing the steep trail to view the tombs was really a workout. The location is spectacular in both its view, but also the recognition of how many tombs there are here. Keep in mind Goryeong is not too far from Haeinsa Temple, Dodong Seowon, and Upo Wetland. So if you are driving, it might prove to be an excellent region of Korea to explore.

There is an interesting history connected to these tombs. Japan between the 1910's to 1940's spent significant resources in conducting archeological digs in Goryeong. Their purpose was to find evidence of a link between the Gaya Confederacy and the Yamato …