Three ancient wooden tablets with Chinese inscriptions, dating back approximately 1,500 years to Korea's Three Kingdoms period (57 BC-AD 660), have been discovered at an archaeological site in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province. The Giho Cultural Heritage Research Center announced the groundbreaking discovery on Thursday, revealing that these artifacts represent the oldest inscribed wooden slips ever found in Korea.
The wooden tablets were unearthed in May during the 15th excavation campaign at Daemosanseong, a mountain fortress that once served the Baekje Kingdom. Researchers found the artifacts within an ancient water collection facility, located in the same archaeological layer as 5th-century Baekje pottery. The Korea Heritage Service funded the excavation project with 800 million won ($545,000).
Before the invention of paper, wooden slips were commonly used throughout East Asia for record-keeping purposes. Today, archaeologists consider these artifacts invaluable time capsules that provide rare glimpses into ancient civilizations and their daily practices.
The most significant of the three tablets bears Chinese characters reading "Gimyonyeon," which translates to "golden rabbit year." This term refers to the 16th year of the traditional sexagenary calendar cycle, which repeats every 60 years. During the 5th century, there were two Gimyonyeon years: 439 and 499.
Scholars believe the inscription most likely points to the year 439, based on historical context. At that time, the Baekje Kingdom had not yet relocated its capital from Hanseong (present-day Songpa-gu, Seoul) to Ungjin (present-day Gongju, South Chungcheong Province). The proximity of Yangju, located just 31 kilometers from Songpa-gu, supports this dating.
This discovery makes the artifact significantly older than any previously found Korean wooden slip. It predates by more than a century another wooden tablet discovered at Mongchontoseong fortress in Seoul, which was dated to around 551 when the Goguryeo Kingdom controlled that area.
The second wooden tablet provides fascinating insights into Baekje cultural and religious practices. This slip contains more than 20 Chinese characters, beginning with the word for "corpse" and followed by characters associated with "sky" and "gold." Researchers discovered oracle bones in the same vicinity, leading them to conclude that these tablets likely served talismanic or ritual purposes.
According to experts cited by Yangju City, "The wooden slips appear to be similar to talismans discovered in China or Japan. The wooden slips are incantatory in nature, showing that rituals were held inside the fortress." This finding suggests that Daemosanseong functioned not only as a military installation but also as a site for religious ceremonies.
The third tablet carries the phrase "Geummulno," which represents a historical place name for modern-day Jincheon in North Chungcheong Province. According to the Samguk Sagi, a comprehensive historical record of the Three Kingdoms written in 1145, this name was used by the Goguryeo Kingdom. Historians find it particularly unusual to discover a Goguryeo place name alongside Baekje artifacts, raising questions about the complex political and cultural relationships between these ancient kingdoms.
Daemosanseong itself is a massive 58,000-square-meter fortress strategically positioned atop a mountain near the Han and Imjin Rivers. Throughout Korean history, this site functioned as both a crucial military outpost and an important transportation hub, controlling key routes through the region.
This recent discovery adds to the site's archaeological significance. During an earlier excavation in 2023, researchers also uncovered wooden slips from Taebong, a short-lived state that existed from 901 to 918 and was founded by the monk-king Gung Ye. Those findings marked the first wooden slip discovery linked to that particular kingdom, further establishing Daemosanseong as an exceptional archaeological treasure trove spanning multiple periods of Korean history.
