나주 정촌고분 1호 석실 피장자의 성격 재검토

Abstract

The recently published report titled The Jeongchon Tomb of Bogam-ri in Naju details the excavation of and research on the Jeongchon Tomb, one of the large tombs built near the Yeongsangang River during the Three Kingdoms Period. Notably, this site yielded a pair of gilt-bronze shoes which aroused considerable interest and attention among historians. As well as containing a detailed description of the excavation process, along with reviews and interpretations of the artifacts and features discovered at the site, the report reveals that the occupant of Stone Chamber 1 was placed there after a multiple number of burials. Judging from the condition of the entrance and the passage to the tomb, as well as the traces of a number of skulls remaining in the burial chamber, archaeologists have inferred that the tomb's occupant underwent two burials before being moved to the current location. The existing views tend, however, to be regarded as a failure to move beyond existing research trends and conventional ideas, as they fail to capture either the details of the burial process or the status of the tomb's occupant. In this study, I will review from a fresh point of view the various questions that have been raised regarding the interpretation of the archaeological evidences and the use of the materials discovered at Jeongchon Tomb 1, and I will try to shed light on the burial process and the occupant's social status. The study is particularly focused on reviewing the following matters: first, the conventional understanding of the human remains discovered in Wooden Coffin 1; second, the unclear interpretations of the traces of additional burials remaining in the tomb's entrance and the passage to the burial chamber; third, the unscientific application and misunderstanding of the results of the 14C radiocarbon dating of the samples; and, lastly, the general lack of knowledge about the background to the Jeongchon Tomb. The results of the study revealed that the occupants of Wooden Coffins 1 and 2 inside Stone Chamber 1, whose heads were found laid in opposite directions, were of lower social status than the occupant of Wooden Coffin 3. A lack of traces of additional burials along the passage and the entrance to the burial chamber suggests that the first two occupants were buried at the same time as the third. This exhibits the same features as the signs of sacrificial burial discovered at several ancient tombs across the Yeongnam area and confirms the details of ancient documents related with them, thus suggesting that the tomb might be the first clear evidence of sacrificial burial discovered in the Yeongsangang area. It is generally assumed that the practice of sacrificial burial commonly appeared during the process of evolution of a political entity from a tribal chiefdom to a state with a centralized government and governance according to a permanent system of codified laws. The archaeological traces of sacrificial burial of the four bodies found at the Jeongchon Tomb, which is thought the grave of a supreme ruler of the Yeongsangang area during the late fifth century, is not only a highly useful source of information about the political and social status of the occupants of Stone Chamber 1, but also tangible evidence of certain political and social aspects of the states of Mahan. The latest discovery at the Jeongchon Tomb in Naju is expected to promote new historical viewpoints about the ancient tombs scattered around the Yeongsangang River, more active searches for traces of sacrificial burials, a reinterpretation of the historical status of the Jeongchon Tomb, and a more progressive interpretation of the stage of social development in the Yeongsangang area in the early phase of its history.