Large Gaya Period Building Site Discovered at 'Gimhae Yuhari Ruins'

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kang Woo-kwon] A large number of Gaya pottery pieces depicting the lifestyle of the Gaya people have been unearthed from a large building site at the 'Gimhae Yuhari Site,' a living relic of the Geumgwan Gaya period.

Gyeongsangnam-do and Gimhae City announced on the 12th that they will open the excavation results of the Gimhae Yuhari Site to the public on the 13th, which was conducted for designation as a national historic site.

The Gimhae Yuhari Site is a large-scale settlement of the Gaya people who constructed the Yangdong-ri Burial Mounds (Historic Site No. 454, tomb relics of the Geumgwan Gaya ruling class), and currently only part of the shell mound is designated and managed as a cultural asset.

Scholars have predicted that the entire hill was a residential area during the Gaya period, citing the surrounding large-scale burial mounds, widely distributed shell mounds, and excellent views overlooking the old Gimhae Bay. Since 2018, as full-scale excavations have been conducted, the true nature of the site has been revealed.

This excavation, commissioned by Gimhae City, has been carried out by the Hanwha Cultural Heritage Research Institute since March of this year, targeting three zones along the 8th to 9th ridges behind Hason Village in Yuhadong.

The excavation confirmed traces of Gaya period dwellings, including seven building sites, pits (竪穴), ditches, and post holes. Among these, at Building Site No. 1 in Zone 2, a large pit-type building site, 55 artifacts such as footed plates, brazier-shaped pot stands, sickles, axes, and spindle whorls were unearthed all at once.

Notably, on the wide wooden plank traces in the center of this building site, 15 footed plates with outwardly bent rims (外切口緣高杯), representative of Geumgwan Gaya pottery, were found lying side by side in three rows of five each.

This is the first time such an arrangement has been confirmed in a living site rather than a burial site. The excavation team interprets this as related to ritual activities and suggests that the building site may have been used for special purposes.

Ryu Myung-hyun, Director of the Culture, Tourism and Sports Bureau of Gyeongsangnam-do, said, "Since 2018, the province has been providing administrative and financial support for excavations and academic conferences to clarify the value of major Gaya relics for national historic site designation. As there are still many Gaya relics whose historical value has not been properly recognized, the province and cities/counties will work together to do their best for national historic site designation."

Meanwhile, Gyeongsangnam-do is promoting the 'Gaya Relics National Historic Site Upgrade Support Project' and plans to proceed with the designation procedures for Hapcheon Seongsan Fortress, Samga Burial Mounds, and Haman Nammunoe Burial Mounds this year. Additionally, excavations and historic site designations of Gaya relics in regions such as Yangsan, Uiryeong, and Geochang, which have not received much attention in Gaya history until now, are also planned.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.