By Mark Peterson
The sixth item on my top 10 list of evidence for advocating that Korea has had a peaceful and stable history is the fact that the royal tombs have not been robbed. Royal tombs? There are the tombs of Silla kings surrounding Gyeongju and there are the tombs of the Joseon kings on the outskirts of Seoul. None have been robbed.
I did not realize how unique this situation was until one day a few years ago, when I was leading a group of textbook writers on a fact-finding tour and seminar on Korean history and culture. The seminar lasted about 10 days and began with our host, the Academy of Korean Studies, on the south side of Seoul, before we traveled through Korea looking at major historical sites.
Standing in front of the Oreung complex, the Five Tombs complex in Gyeongju, an archaeologist from the University of Utah named Bradley Parker innocently asked, "When were these tombs robbed?" The question surprised me because I knew the tombs had not been robbed. I knew this because each tomb that they have excavated, about six of them, has contained a Silla crown and a whole host of treasures intact ― not plundered by grave robbers.
Yet, Professor Parker assumed that the tombs had been plundered. When I told him they had not, it was his turn to be surprised. He said, "Of course the tombs have been plundered. That's what they do. Grave robbers rob graves. That's where the gold and jewels are." It was like "bank robbers rob banks because that's where the money is."
I said that these Korean tombs had not been robbed and turned to Yi Jong-uk, a well-known Silla historian and once-president of Sogang University who was with us at the seminar in Gyeongju. He confirmed that the tombs had not been robbed.
Parker then said something to me that was so obvious and yet after years of advocating that Korea has a peaceful history, and that the story of wars and invasions is a 20th century corruption of the true historical narrative of Korea, I had not seen it. He said, "Well, Professor Peterson, this supports your argument that Korea has had a peaceful and stable tradition."
Yes, Korea has never suffered sufficient chaos that would allow opportunity for grave robbers to pillage the tombs. Even in the height of the Japanese invasion of 1592, the Korean "righteous armies" responded adequately to keep the Japanese invaders on the run, and without enough time or space to plunder the tombs. At the change of dynasties, where other countries see wholesale chaos, Korea saw a relatively orderly fall and rise of dynasties.
Parker said he studied and did field work in Egypt and the Middle East and that never do they find a tomb that grave robbers have not broken into. The grave robbers take the treasures and leave the archaeologists with the task of figuring out what was supposed to have been in the tomb. He said the pyramids of Egypt were at times plundered before the dynasty was over!
He said this really does speak of a stable government and peaceful society to have never robbed the graves of the deceased kings.
We were looking at the Silla royal tombs in Gyeongju, and it is also true of the Joseon royal tombs scattered to the west, south and east of Seoul. Which leads to the question of the Goryeo dynasty tombs in North Korea. From what we know of them, they have not been plundered either.
In fact, the tombs they have excavated have been done by careful archaeological methodology where every inch of dirt is moved carefully and noted scientifically. And they have found the Silla crowns and other artifacts intact and undisturbed. One of the first was excavated in the 1930s under Japanese supervision. And the Japanese, fearing a public outcry, utilized the visit of the Crown Prince of Sweden to involve him in the dig. They waited till he arrived to have him pull out the crown ― using royalty to excavate royalty. And it worked. There were no major objections or demonstrations against the Japanese for digging up a royal ancestor.
The tombs the subsequent archaeologists have excavated under Korean authority have, interestingly, only been tombs of kings that we don't know ― that is, we don't know for certain which king has been buried there. The tombs that have a strong tradition of identity with a specific king or queen have not been excavated.
Interestingly, Japanese royal tombs have not been robbed or excavated, but Chinese tombs have both been robbed and excavated, and the Ming tombs are big underground mausoleums that welcome tourists. Very different from the Korean situation.
Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah.
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I did not realize how unique this situation was until one day a few years ago, when I was leading a group of textbook writers on a fact-finding tour and seminar on Korean history and culture. The seminar lasted about 10 days and began with our host, the Academy of Korean Studies, on the south side of Seoul, before we traveled through Korea looking at major historical sites.
Standing in front of the Oreung complex, the Five Tombs complex in Gyeongju, an archaeologist from the University of Utah named Bradley Parker innocently asked, "When were these tombs robbed?" The question surprised me because I knew the tombs had not been robbed. I knew this because each tomb that they have excavated, about six of them, has contained a Silla crown and a whole host of treasures intact ― not plundered by grave robbers.
Yet, Professor Parker assumed that the tombs had been plundered. When I told him they had not, it was his turn to be surprised. He said, "Of course the tombs have been plundered. That's what they do. Grave robbers rob graves. That's where the gold and jewels are." It was like "bank robbers rob banks because that's where the money is."
I said that these Korean tombs had not been robbed and turned to Yi Jong-uk, a well-known Silla historian and once-president of Sogang University who was with us at the seminar in Gyeongju. He confirmed that the tombs had not been robbed.
Parker then said something to me that was so obvious and yet after years of advocating that Korea has a peaceful history, and that the story of wars and invasions is a 20th century corruption of the true historical narrative of Korea, I had not seen it. He said, "Well, Professor Peterson, this supports your argument that Korea has had a peaceful and stable tradition."
Yes, Korea has never suffered sufficient chaos that would allow opportunity for grave robbers to pillage the tombs. Even in the height of the Japanese invasion of 1592, the Korean "righteous armies" responded adequately to keep the Japanese invaders on the run, and without enough time or space to plunder the tombs. At the change of dynasties, where other countries see wholesale chaos, Korea saw a relatively orderly fall and rise of dynasties.
Parker said he studied and did field work in Egypt and the Middle East and that never do they find a tomb that grave robbers have not broken into. The grave robbers take the treasures and leave the archaeologists with the task of figuring out what was supposed to have been in the tomb. He said the pyramids of Egypt were at times plundered before the dynasty was over!
He said this really does speak of a stable government and peaceful society to have never robbed the graves of the deceased kings.
We were looking at the Silla royal tombs in Gyeongju, and it is also true of the Joseon royal tombs scattered to the west, south and east of Seoul. Which leads to the question of the Goryeo dynasty tombs in North Korea. From what we know of them, they have not been plundered either.
In fact, the tombs they have excavated have been done by careful archaeological methodology where every inch of dirt is moved carefully and noted scientifically. And they have found the Silla crowns and other artifacts intact and undisturbed. One of the first was excavated in the 1930s under Japanese supervision. And the Japanese, fearing a public outcry, utilized the visit of the Crown Prince of Sweden to involve him in the dig. They waited till he arrived to have him pull out the crown ― using royalty to excavate royalty. And it worked. There were no major objections or demonstrations against the Japanese for digging up a royal ancestor.
The tombs the subsequent archaeologists have excavated under Korean authority have, interestingly, only been tombs of kings that we don't know ― that is, we don't know for certain which king has been buried there. The tombs that have a strong tradition of identity with a specific king or queen have not been excavated.
Interestingly, Japanese royal tombs have not been robbed or excavated, but Chinese tombs have both been robbed and excavated, and the Ming tombs are big underground mausoleums that welcome tourists. Very different from the Korean situation.
Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah.
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