[KS] Koguryo inquiry

Wed Dec 20 09:48:39 EST 2006

Dear Werner,

This has strayed a bit from the original inquiry, but the topic may be 
worth exploring as we wait for clarification of the question that was asked.

The mural tomb in Fushun was also discussed at last year's Harvard 
Conference on Koguryo History and Archaeology in a presentation given by 
the vice director of the Liaoning Institute of Archaeology. The mural 
tomb was one of 43 tombs excavated in 2000 and 2001 at the Shijia 
cemetery to the northeast of Fushun. To my knowledge there has yet to 
appear an official report of this work. The cemetery dates roughly to 
Koguryo's final century and lies very close to the fortress ruins at 
Gaoershan, believed to be the site of Koguryo's Sin-song fortress (a 
very important strategic point throughout Koguryo's history). I have 
been to these sites, but my most recent visit was some years before the 
mural tomb was discovered, so I have not seen anything of it other than 
the slides presented at the conference and some sketches of its layout.

The tomb in question was designated M1, and was a stone-chamber 
earth-mound tomb, though it was badly damaged and only portions of the 
murals survive. I don't recall the zigzag pattern you mentioned, but 
there were paintings of women wearing Koguryo-style clothing with long 
skirts and trousers. There were also lotus and mountain patterns and the 
lower part of a horse (the upper part was destroyed), and a man with a 
dagger. Skeletal fragments showed that an adult male and an adult female 
were interred in this tomb. There was also a tile end with a lotus 
pattern found in the burial chamber.

Your association of the murals with the Nanai is interesting, as the 
archaeologists observed that, while this is a Koguryo cemetery, the 
tombs are stylistically and structurally not typical for Koguryo, but 
they do resemble some Parhae tombs. I have not explored this in much 
detail (I'm waiting for the publication of the excavation report), but 
this association with Parhae suggests at least two explanations: first, 
that this is really an early Parhae cemetery (doubtful), and second, 
that the tomb builders were Mohe (Malgal) people who were subject to 
Koguryo (much more likely). In the latter case, the builders would be 
most likely to be Sumo Mohe (Songmal Malgal) people, who are known to 
have been closely allied with or subject to Koguryo and to have played a 
very important role in the establishment of Parhae. One problem is that 
that pre-Parhae Sumo Mohe (who typically lived on the Songhua north of 
Jilin city) are not known to have built tombs with murals, which does 
not mean that those Mohe subject to Koguryo wouldn't think that tomb 
murals were a good thing and include some in one of their burials. This 
all suggests that the tombs at Shijia are probably the result of a 
combination of both Koguryo and other cultural elements, the other being 
quite probably the Sumo Mohe. I qualify the above by pointing out that 
the Mohe association is my own - none of the archaeologists has 
suggested anything beyond the similarity between the Shijia tombs and 
some Parhae tombs.

I have reason to believe that an excavation report is forthcoming in 
China, if it has not in fact already appeared. When it is available, you 
will have more complete information on the tomb with murals. I am 
presently editing a book that will include some information on the tomb 
along with layout diagrams, so either way something will be available 
regarding this tomb in the near future.

Best Regards,

Mark Byington

On 12/19/2006 11:04 PM, Werner Koidl wrote:

> Dear Mark,
>
>
> a bit off-topic, but
>
> you wrote: "...and at least one (a Koguryo mural tomb) newly 
> discovered one in Fushun."
>
> Could you please explain more about this tomb.
>
> I remember on last year's Koguryo Foundation sponsored Koguryo 
> conference at Berlin university (Germany) somebody of the Koguryo 
> Research Foundation showed a slide of a newly discovered Koguryo (?) 
> tomb near Fushun. But because of lack of time he just showed quickly 
> the picture and could not tell anything about the tomb.
> What struck me was the very different style of the wall paintings we 
> could see on that slide. Instead of lotus flowers, clouds or tree 
> symbols very geometrical lines, edges and zick-zacks were shown that 
> reminded me of the art and design of the Nanai people who live along 
> the Songhua, Ussuri and Amur river.
>
> I guess we are talking about the same tomb, but I am not sure.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Werner Koidl
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Byington" 
> <byington at fas.harvard.edu>
> To: "Korean Studies Discussion List" <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 6:37 PM
> Subject: Re: [KS] Koguryo inquiry
>
>
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> Regarding the question of Koguryo mural tombs on the left side of the 
>> Yalu, the actual passage cited from Ariane Perrin reads: "These 
>> burials are found scattered on both sides of the Yalu River in Jian, 
>> Jilin province, in the Liaodong peninsula of northeast China and in the
>> vicinity of Pyeongyang in North Korea."
>>
>> The passage can be parsed multiple ways, and the punctuation does 
>> seem to suggest that such mural tombs are to be found in the DPRK 
>> opposite Ji'an. But I suspect that the punctuation here is at fault 
>> and that the intended reading is that Koguryo mural tombs are in 
>> general found on both sides of the Yalu (i.e., both in the PRC and in 
>> the DPRK). Examples
>> provided for each broad region include those in Ji'an in the PRC and 
>> in and near Pyongyang in the DPRK.
>>
>> I know of no Koguryo mural tombs in the DPRK located outside of the 
>> P'yongan and Hwanghae regions, though there may well be some that 
>> have not yet been discovered or identified. Lists of Koguryo mural 
>> tombs compiled in the DPRK in the 1990s include no tombs outside of 
>> the areas I mentioned above (additional mural tombs have been 
>> discovered since these lists were published, but the tombs are in the 
>> same general region).
>>
>> In the PRC, Koguryo mural tombs are concentrated on Ji'an, of course, 
>> but there is one mural tomb in Huanren and at least one newly 
>> discovered one in Fushun. There are Koguryo tombs in the northern 
>> part of the DPRK, especially on the Changja (Tongno) River opposite 
>> Ji'an - though no mural tombs are reported there, several other types 
>> of Koguryo tomb have been found, including the so-called keyhole cairns.
>>
>> If anyone knows of such mural tombs on the DPRK side of the Yalu, I 
>> would also appreciate hearing about them.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Mark Byington
>>
>>
>> On Tue, 19 Dec 2006, Werner Koidl wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Leonid,
>>>
>>> in your article, you quoted Perrin (2000) saying: "The latter were 
>>> sometimes found decorated with colorful wall paintings which are 
>>> dated between the fourth and the seventh centuries A.D. These 
>>> burials are found scattered on both sides of the Yalu River in Jian, 
>>> Jilin province..."
>>>
>>> Which Koguryo tombs with wall paintings were found on the left side 
>>> of the Yalu ? (in the vicinity of Kuknae-song)
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>>
>>> Werner Koidl
>>>  ----- Original Message -----
>>>  From: Leonid Petrov
>>>  To: Korean Studies Discussion List
>>>  Cc: Naomi_Hellmann at brown.edu
>>>  Sent: Monday, December 18, 2006 2:39 AM
>>>  Subject: Re: [KS] Koguryo inquiry
>>>
>>>
>>>  Dear Naomi and All,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  Indeed, on 2 July 2004 the DPRK had the Koguryo murals discovered 
>>> around Pyongyang and Namp'o inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage 
>>> List. This move is expected to benefit the North Korea in many ways. 
>>> A country that receives little international attention except for 
>>> engineered famine and its crying abuse of human rights, its 
>>> activities in nuclear weapons and missiles development has got a 
>>> chance to emphasize that Koguryo was part of the history of Korean 
>>> people.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  However, the DPRK was not only interested in preserving its 
>>> cultural heritage. By having Koguryo mural tombs internationally 
>>> recognized, North Korea also plans to establish its hegemony in the 
>>> process of national unification and even to secure itself from 
>>> possible preventive strikes. Even in a case of military dispute, a 
>>> place once registered as a World Heritage Site is not permitted to 
>>> be attacked under international law...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  More on the political economy of the Koguryo issue (as it is seen 
>>> in contemporary Korea, China, and Japan) see  < 
>>> http://north-korea.boom.ru/koguryo.htm >
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  With very best regards,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  Leonid A. Petrov PhD
>>>
>>>  Chair of Korean Studies,
>>>
>>>  --
>>>
>>>  Sciences Po Asia Centre
>>>
>>>  Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris,
>>>
>>>  Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques
>>>
>>>  ***********************************
>>>
>>>  Visiting address: 2 Floor, 224, Blvd S.Germain, 75007 PARIS
>>>
>>>  Postal address: 27, Rue S.Guillaume, F - 75337 PARIS, Cedex 07, FRANCE
>>>
>>>  Mob.+33 6 25615963 Tel: +33 1 45497768(office) Fax: +33 1 45497761
>>>
>>>  http://asia-centre.sciences-po.fr/academics/korean_chair.html
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  On 15/12/06, naomi <lowenmaulchen at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>    Dear List Members,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>    My dissertation is focused on the political economy of Koguryo 
>>> and includes the role of China and UNESCO. Any insight on locating 
>>> North Korean sources of information available in either English or 
>>> Chinese would be highly appreciated.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>    Thank you,
>>>
>>>    Naomi
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>    Naomi Hellmann
>>>
>>>    Development Studies
>>>
>>>    Brown University
>>>
>>>    Naomi_Hellmann at brown.edu
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>