Culture of the Gaya kingdoms in the south of the Korean peninsula: excavations at the Gyodong-Songhyeondong site in 2019

In April, 2019, the team from the Department of International Archeology of IAET SB RAS participated in excavations at a referential site of the Gaya culture on the Korean Peninsula. The works were done at the Gyodong-Songsonghyeondong burial ground of the barrow type, located in the southeast of the Korean Peninsula within the boundaries of the village of Changnyeong. Over 140 burial mounds are concentrated on this territory. The burial mounds consisted of two groups with barrows of small sizes concentrated on the periphery of large burial mounds. The works were aimed at obtaining new data on the culture of the Gaya Kingdoms in the Southern Korean Peninsula. Archaeological excavations were performed in zone II, where a group of 27 archaeological objects was located. Eight burial mounds and 15 stone boxes without mounds belonged to the period under study. The central object of the group was large burial mound No. 39. During archaeological excavations in 2016-2019, burial mound No. 39 and a number of stone boxes located on its periphery were excavated. The works made it possible to establish the structural elements of the burial mound and chamber, and obtain a substantial collection of artifacts. Mounds were made taking into account specific features of microrelief in attempts to prevent their destruction resulting from sliding down the slope. Burial chambers had a typical structure for the Gaya culture: they were sub-rectangular in plan; walls were made of stone tiles, and entrance was in one of the side walls. Funeral inventory shows typical features of both Gaya culture and culture of the Silla Kingdom. However, since the Gaya features dominated in the burial ground, it is possible to attribute the site to the culture of the Bihwa Gaya Kingdom which existed in this area in the 3rd-6th centuries AD and was conquered by the Silla Kingdom according to historical records.