Ancient Tombs at Longtou Mountain

The Ancient Tombs at Longtou Mountain are the burial sites of twelve royal figures from Balhae. It is located on Longtou Mountain, southeast of Toudao Town (头道镇) in Helong, Jilin Province, China, a region possibly called the "Western Field of the Ran Valley" (染谷之西原) by the Balhae people. The Mausoleum of Princess Jeonghyo is located here.

Ancient Tombs at Longtou Mountain
Location within China
Alternative nameRungteousan gobungun
LocationJilin Province
RegionHelong
Coordinates42.73353°N 129.24413°E / 42.73353; 129.24413
TypeCemetery
Area200,000 km2
History
BuilderKing Mun
Founded745 CE
Periods745–926
CulturesBalhae
Site notes
Discovered1970s
Excavation dates1980, 1982, 2005
Architecture
Architectural stylesStone cist tumuli
Ancient Tombs at Longtou Mountain
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese龍頭山古墓群
Simplified Chinese龙头山古墓群
Korean name
Hangul용두산 고묘군
Hanja龍頭山古墓群

History

Construction on the first tombs at Longtou Mountain began sometime after 745, when King Mun moved the Balhae capital city to Junggyeong.[1] The cemetery was in use until the end of the Balhae Kingdom.

The discovery of Princess Jeonghyo's tombstone resolved speculation amongst scholars that the area was the former location of Hyundeok Province (현덕부 顯德府) of the Balhae Kingdom.[1]

The site has been a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level since January 13, 1988. The walls and the murals of the tomb have been covered with anti-corrosive chemicals; at one point the tomb included at least one tower, but it is no longer standing.[2][3]

The princess' tomb

==Excavation== The first excavations at Longtou Mountain were conducted in 1980 by the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture Museum of Jilin (Chinese: 吉林省延边朝鲜族自治州博物馆). They excavated the Mausoleum of Princess Jeonghyo in the Dragon Sea section. At the same time, members of the museum, in addition to other organisations, conducted a survey of a 7.5 km2 area. Local archaeologists were also invited to conduct test excavations on some of the other tombs, which produced various precious artefacts.[1]

In 1982, the Yanbian Museum excavated seven tombs in the Dragon Sea area. All seven were clustered quite close together, but the tomb roofs had already collapsed. Some tombs cut through older tombs. Two of these tombs contained two people, who had been interred at the same time; four tombs contained two people, who had been interred one after the other; one tomb contained four people, one of whom was first interred, followed by the other three on a separate occasion. In the cases of a secondary burial, the second person was placed on top of the first body's head or feet.[1]

Layout

There are three burial zones:[2]

  • Dragon Lake (龍湖)
  • Dragon Sea (龍海)
    • The location of Princess Jeonghyo's mausoleum
    • One robbed-out tumulus to the south-east. The inner north, east, and west walls were plastered, but the tomb had collapsed by 2012.[1]
    • 10 burials distributed over terraces to the east of Princess Jeonghyo's burial
  • Stone Kingdom (石國)

Mausoleum of Princess Jeonghyo
Main article: Mausoleum of Princess Jeonghyo

The Mausoleum of Princess Jeonghyo originally had a funerary pagoda made from brick and stone slabs, in addition to a tumulus.[1] Only the pagoda's foundations remain, which show that the pagoda was originally square, measuring 5.50x5.65 m. Below the funerary pagoda and tumulus, the princess' burial comprised an entry passage, tomb entrance, internal passage, and burial chamber. The burial chamber measured 2.10x3.10 m and was built from bricks, with stone slabs forming the roof. There were originally 12 murals depicting people on the rear walls of the internal passage and north, east, and west walls of the burial chamber. The tomb was robbed and the bones of Princess Jeonghyo were scattered around the chamber, but archaeologists recovered her tombstone.[1]

References
  1. "渤海国文物古迹之龙头山古墓群" [Cultural remains of the Balhae Kingdom:the ancient tombs at Longtou Mountain]. Chamgbai Mountain. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  2. "Ancient Tombs at Longtou Mountain - Protected National Cultural Artifacts". Archived from the original on 27 August 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  3. "Tomb Group of Longtou Mountain". 5 June 2014. Archived from the original on 7 July 2015.
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