Changwon Museum Hosts Special Exhibition Unveiling Artifacts Excavated from Masan Hyeondong Site for the First Time

Gaya Artifacts Including Pottery, Earrings, and Jade Items... Special Exhibition with National Gimhae Museum

Boat-shaped pottery and duck-shaped pottery excavated in Hyeondong, Masanhappo-gu, Changwon. (Photo by Changwon City)

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Choi Hyunju] Changwon City in Gyeongnam plans to hold a special exhibition that will showcase artifacts excavated from the Masan Hyeondong site for the first time.

On the 25th, Changwon City also announced that it is promoting the hosting of a special exhibition titled "Another Port of Gaya, Hyeondong" in collaboration with the National Gimhae Museum.

The special exhibition will be held for two months from October 13 to December 13. On the 12th, the city signed a business agreement with the Samhan Cultural Heritage Research Institute to hold the special exhibition.

The Hyeondong site excavated by the Samhan Cultural Heritage Research Institute includes over 5,400 earthenware and pottery items such as boat-shaped and camel-shaped figurative pottery and footed plates, more than 3,400 metal artifacts including thin ring earrings and large swords, and about 2,000 jade and stone items such as curved jade and necklaces, totaling over 10,800 pieces.

The artifacts in this special exhibition will be revealed to the citizens of Changwon for the first time. The exhibition will display various pottery styles including those from the Ara Gaya lineage, as well as from Geumgwan Gaya and Sogaya, allowing visitors to observe the evolution of pottery styles all in one place.

Representative artifacts of the special exhibition, such as the sailboat-shaped pottery and the figurative pottery combining a duck’s body with a camel’s head, are considered important materials that help infer the maritime trade and international exchange patterns of Gaya at that time.

Hwang Gyu-jong, Director of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, said, “This special exhibition systematically organizes the excavation achievements of the Hyeondong site conducted over 30 years,” adding, “We hope it will serve as an opportunity to restore the history of Gaya in the Changwon area and enhance citizens’ pride and understanding of the Gaya cultural zone.”

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