Traces of Wetland Leveling Discovered at Buyeo Naseong

Lay Flat Stones or Mix Sansato to Strengthen Weak Ground

Buyeo Naseong is an outer facility surrounding the Baekje Sabi Fortress. It was built not only to protect the fortress but also to distinguish the internal and external boundaries. Since April, the Cultural Heritage Administration and Buyeo County have been conducting excavation investigations on the northern side of Naseong, and on the 6th, they reported confirming clues that reveal the construction techniques of the fortress walls. These are traces of foundation work where new soil was laid and leveled based on the naturally deposited original terrain. Flat stones were widely laid, or lumps of sansato (sand-clay soil collected from mountains) were mixed to solidify the wet and soft ground around the river. In July, Buyeo County discovered a gate site (munji) and a 60-meter section of the fortress wall here.

The fortress wall was constructed by processing stones to build the outer wall surface on compacted ground and piling soil inside like a mountain. The stone foundation was built with a trapezoidal cross-section to withstand the weight of the fortress wall on the wet and soft ground. The inner earthen embankment was compacted and stacked in layers 5 to 10 cm thick. Buyeo County explained, "We identified construction units of soil embankments ranging from 3.2 to 5.1 meters in size along the direction of the fortress wall," adding, "The form of the stone foundation construction varied depending on the points where the soil embankment construction units were distinguished."

The remaining height of the fortress wall is up to 2 meters, and the width is up to 14.2 meters. The width may have been wider as it extends beyond the excavation area. Buyeo County stated, "Artifacts such as gaebae (蓋杯) and jikgusohos (直口小壺) were excavated from the soil embankment, estimating the construction period to be the mid-6th century." They added, "This achievement is very significant as it provides important clues to understanding the transportation system of Baekje during the Sabi period."

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