Ancient Tombs in Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong, Changnyeong

On the western foot of Hwawangsan, just east of central Changnyeong, rows of grassy burial mounds rise one after another. These are the Ancient Tombs in Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong, built for the elite of Bihwa Gaya, who ruled the area in the 5th and 6th centuries; about 150 tombs have been identified. In September 2023 they were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the "Gaya Tumuli", and the Changnyeong Museum right next to them displays what was found inside.

The rulers of Bisabeol

Changnyeong is identified with Bulsaguk, one of the twelve Jinhan states mentioned in the Chinese chronicle Records of the Three Kingdoms, and was also called Bisabeol. Its rulers, who grew powerful between Gaya and Silla, raised their great tombs on the high slopes of Hwawangsan. The tomb structures and finds point to the 5th–6th centuries as the main period of the cemetery. The large tombs have stone-built chambers, entered either through a tunnel-like passage or through one side that was opened and then sealed again, so that more than one person could be buried. The whole cemetery covers about 530,000 m².

Looted, then rediscovered

The tombs first became known through a survey by the Japanese scholar Sekino Tadashi in 1911. In 1918–1919 Japanese excavators dug into several large tombs, and many finds, including gilt-bronze crowns, gold jewellery, iron armour and pottery, were taken to Japan; only part of them remains in Korea. The excavation reports were so brief that the original tomb structures are hard to reconstruct.

The Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong cemeteries used to be separate Historic Sites and were merged into one designation in 2011. At Songhyeon-dong there were once more than 80 large tombs on the western foot of Mokmasan, but only about 16 keep their original shape; other areas have mostly become rice paddies. Every surviving mound is all the more precious.

The girl from Tomb 15

New excavations in the 2000s brought a remarkable story from Songhyeon-dong Tomb 15. In 2007 archaeologists found the bones of four people sacrificed to be buried with the tomb's owner. The best-preserved skeleton belonged to a girl of about sixteen, around 154 cm tall. Researchers rebuilt her muscles and skin into a full-body model and named her "Songhyeon-i". She wore gilt-bronze earrings, and her shin bones show signs of long hours kneeling, suggesting she was an attendant to the deceased.

Walking among the mounds

• Gyo-dong tombs: climb the hill behind the museum and restored mounds line the ridge. From the top you get the town and the curves of the tombs in one view.
• A tomb you can look into: one of the restored tombs has an open entrance, so you can see the stone-built burial chamber inside.
• Songhyeon-dong tombs: large mounds clustered below Mokmasanseong Fortress, by the road towards Hyeonpung.
• Changnyeong Museum: 276 objects, including Bihwa Gaya pottery, horse gear, jewellery and weapons, plus a model showing how a Gaya tomb was built. It opened in 1996 as a display hall of replicas; since 2011 it has received and shown original finds from the area.

Tripto tips

• Visiting: the tombs are always open, free, with free parking. Changnyeong Museum is open 09:00–18:00 (last entry 17:00), closed Mondays, 1 January and the Seollal and Chuseok holidays; admission is free.
• Time needed: 1–2 hours for the museum and a walk through the Gyo-dong mounds. There is almost no shade, so in summer go early or late in the day.
• Best order: see the museum's finds and model first; the mounds make much more sense afterwards.
• Combine with: Upo Wetland, Korea's largest inland wetland, is roughly 20 minutes away by car.