Roman treasures buried with Silla royals at the end of Silk Road

Korean burial tradition includes sending treasured items of significance with the deceased. Most valued objects in Korean antique trading are underground treasures which were originally buried in ancient tombs of Korea's long history.

A 5th century Silla period Phoenix-shaped glass pitcher, dug up in 1975 from Hwangnamdaechong, the largest royal tomb of Silla, has intrigued Koreans for decades about its origin as its aesthetics was definitely of a foreign nature..

It was not until researchers made the connection between some 30 glass products excavated from Silla Royal Tombs in the ancient capital city of Gyeongju, to similar glassware found in central Asia and in the Middle East, they confirmed the ancient trading of Roman goods through the Steppe Route, the original Silk Road over the Eurasian plains stretching all the way to far east Asia.

Professor Park Cheun-Soo, Director of the Silk Road Survey & Research Center in the Dept. of Archaeology & Anthropology at the Kyungpook National University, has dedicated more than a decade chasing the origin and the route through which Roman glass products have ended up in Silla, some 12,000 km away.

Dr. Park found a strikingly familiar design of a fishnet on a glass cup excavated from a tomb in Kara-Agachi, Kazakhstan that matched the design on a 6th century Silla period glass cup excavated in 1926 from the Seobongchong, one of many ancient Silla tombs in Gyeongju the ancient capital of Silla.

Such rare foreign objects are believed to have changed hands several times before they reached Silla according to researchers. "Ancient traders of Gojoseon, which means Ancient Joseon, and subsequent Korean kingdoms such as Buyeo and Goguryeo, eventually brought foreign treasures to Silla," said Park.

"Historically, ancient nations were formed to protect their economic interests. Competing neighboring states defined each other as nation states when they traded goods. Nation states have had to trade goods for survival," said Professor of archaeology, Bok Gi-Dae, Director of Gojoseon Research Institute at Inha University in Incheon.

"Korean people are descendants of the survivors of ancient Hongsan culture, which date back from about 4,700 to 3,000 BCE." said Bok who found evidence of a partial collapse of civilization in ancient Hongshan culture which was a Neolithic culture in the Liao river basin in the north of Balhae Sea, not too far southeast of present-day Beijing.

"Climate change combined with drought and drop in temperatures led to a possible plague some 5,000 years ago. We found mass graves of ancient people’s remains with no war wounds," accoring to archaeologist Bok who found genetic markers of modern Koreans matching those remains from the ancient Hongsan culture.

Korean people's love for all things made of glass is well documented in the Three Kingdoms Wei Shu and Dongyi Biography (280~289) by the author Chen Shou (陳壽) who wrote that "Korean love to wear jewelry with glasses more than jewelry made with gold or silver."

Baekje people of Korea already had technology to make glassware from the 2nd century but imported glass products were considered more valuable for the royalty.

The Roman Glass pitcher, found in 1975, must had been a really valuable import to Silla royalty, as its handle is wrapped with gold wires.

Grave robbers have been one of the oldest trades. Most antique objects in Korea's museums can trace their origins to ancient graves. Korea's ancient times are defined as the Gojoseon period or Ancient Joseon period to differentiate it from the latter Joseon (1392 - 1910) which inherited the original Joseon’s national identity.

Goguryeo Kingdom, which continued the ancient cultures of Buyeo and Gojoseon, had a tradition of maintaining royal tombs. Goguryeo left detailed instructions for future generations on a massive stone monument to honor theIr King Gwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo (374 - 413) whose legendary expedition stretched Goguryeo's influence out to the far end of their known world.

According to Hanja character texts on the 6.39-meter tall stone monument, Gwanggaeto the Great's graves along with the rest of the royal tombs were to be managed by 330 households of gravekeepers called Sumyoin.

Considering there were only 20 households designated to manage Silla ancestral royal tombs in the south, and similarly some 20 gravekeepers for the Northern Yan kingdom (407 - 436) graves in the west at the time, the sheer number of the Sumyoin dedicated to the protection of Goguryeo's royal ancestral tombs speaks volumes about the magnitude and the wealth of the Goguryeo empire.

During the 5th century, there's virtually no Roman glasses which are found in Northern Wei (北魏) dynasty 386 - 534) nor during the Song dynasty (960 - 1279) in the Middle Kingdom region.

At the same time, many Roman glass products were traded over the Steppe Route, the original Silk Road over the northern plains to end up in Silla, the far end of the known civilizations.

Researchers have determined that glass products were produced at four locations during the Roman period; Rome, Alexandria, Syria and the Roman colony of Cologne, Germany.

"The Phoenix-shaped glass pitcher, dug up in 1975 was made in Syria," said Park.

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