Bronze Age structures with mounds in the south of the Korean peninsula: evidence from the Igokri site near the city of Jinju

This article presents the results of studying 12 objects with mounds of the Bronze Age using the evidence of archaeological excavations at the Igokri site near the city of Jinju in the southeast of Korean Peninsula. Their main structural features included stone or earthen mound with relatively regular geometric shape - round, sub-square, or sub-rectangular, and inner grave structure of a single stone cist in the center of the mound. The walls of the cists were elongated thin slabs set on the edge, more rarely stone tiles laid in layers. Sometimes a large stone was set on top of the mounds, performing a function similar to the lid of a dolmen. In one case, there was an entrance-type structure of a corridor attached to side wall of the cist. Burial inventory was found both in stone cists (in one case, in an imitation of a separate chamber for inventory), and in mounds. Judging by the size of inner grave structures and known parallels, stone cists contained single burials which might have belonged to members of the same local community. Most of the artifacts were fragmented. The inventory complexes of structures with mounds included items typical of the Bronze Age of South Korea: pottery with smooth walls or sometimes with traces of black pigment on the surface, clay items, and stone tools. Regularities in the occurrence of grave goods suggest that the structures might have had not only a funerary, but also a ritual function. In conclusion, it is suggested that the structures under discussion could be connected with the synchronous and similar complexes from the south of Korea. The structures with mounds studied at the Igokri site represent a new and previously unknown type of burial sites in the region. Some details of their construction indicate connection with burial mounds of the Early Iron Age - Middle Ages.