The Iksan Ssangneung (Twin Tombs) a pair comprising the Great King Royal Tomb and the Small Royal Tomb, typical style of tunnel stone chamber tombs in the Baekje Kingdom during the Sabi period of ancient Korea, have been found among the relics of the ...
The Iksan Ssangneung (Twin Tombs) a pair comprising the Great King Royal Tomb and the Small Royal Tomb, typical style of tunnel stone chamber tombs in the Baekje Kingdom during the Sabi period of ancient Korea, have been found among the relics of the 7th century late Baekje scattered over Iksan area. While the body buried in the The Great King Royal Tomb is presumed to be of King Mu, the Small Royal Tomb remains ambiguous as researchers discuss whose body is buried in the tomb. According to a historical heritage investigation plan in 1917 during the Japanese colonial period, an archaeological excavation has already been conducted on this tomb.
The rock that is used for the remaining structure of the Small Royal Tomb has been identified as fine to medium grained, grey white biotite granite with a granular texture. The stone that makes up the Small Royal Tomb was shown to have nearly similar levels of magnetic susceptibilities measurements for the pieces of the stone chamber and another stone of the Small Royal Tomb, indicating that there were similar stone types for the row of stones and what is presumed to be an altar.
There is nearly non-variation in the occurrence, lithofacies and descriptive characteristics of the biotite granite from the site, but partly show slight variation with regard to particle size and the textures and content of biotite. The major rock-forming minerals that have been identified through the observation with stereoscopic microscope, polarized microscope and X-ray diffraction analysis are quartz, alkali feldspar, plagioclase, biotite.
To interpret the source of the stone that constitutes the tomb, the stone from excavation sites, focusing on the bedrock for biotite granite and other quarries found around the Twin Tombs and in Iksan, were searched. The presumed provenance is the biotite granite available in Mireuksan, Sidaesan, Hwangdeung, Samgi, Nangsan, Hamyeol. The biotite granite that is found in the presumed source exhibits a nearly similar occurrence and lithofacies, but partly slightly varied in its descriptive characteristics.
When the rock samples collected around Small Royal Tomb relics and from the presumed source were examined for petrological and geochemical homogeneity, they indicated having undergone the same petrogenetic process as they were quite similar. However, part of the samples showed variation in the evolution of the trace and rare earth elements. Accordingly, the stone that constitutes the relics is granite that evolved from magma with this origin and is believed to register slight variation in its lithofacies and occurrence as it underwent different instances of magmatic differentiation.
The soil layers of the trench lying east of the tomb that were exposed during the excavation of the Small Royal Tomb are, from the bottom up, the bottommost layer, the ground leveling layer, the Panchuk (rammed earth) layer of the Baekje, the layer created by grave robbery, and soil recovered during the Japanese colonial period. In addition, the study obtained samples by segmenting an easy stratigraphic horizon into sub categorical soil layers and analyzed their material properties. This led to the belief that, while all the soil layers register slight variations in the different layers, the soils share nearly the same parent materials and petrogenetic process.
The soil layer that covered up the grave robbery committed during the Japanese colonial period is composed of loam. As it shows geochemical behaviors similar to those of the bottommost foundation, the robbers used nearby soil that was carefully selected. Furthermore, the soil in the grave robbery layer did not show any specified characteristics due to severe disturbance caused thereto.
In the foundation of the building site that dates back to the Baekje period, loamy sand is packed in the bottommost layer adjacent to the foundation, and sandy loam with high sand and silt sand fills most of the portion above it. The central and topmost portion of the Baekje layer was built with loam with high clay content. A review of the results of the particle size analysis on the Panchuk (rammed earth) layer of the Baekje suggests that materials were carefully selected before they were used at the time of the tomb construction.
X-ray diffraction analysis verified kaolinite in all the layers, registering a high level of crystallinity in the Baekje layer. milk-white soil, which appeared to be kaolin, was observed in the soil in the layers with high level crystallinity, and kaolinite and halloysite were identified through a scanning electron microscope. Differential thermal analysis and thermo gravimetric analysis on some select soil samples showed that all the analyzed samples shown an endothermic peak due to the dehydration of the water of kaolinite crystallization in the temperature range from 400℃ to 525℃.
Based on the examination of the presumed provenance of the stones of the Small Royal Tombs, Mireuksan was revealed as a granite area and with extensive scattered various traces of stone cutting operations in the ancient. Its geographical location, distance and the geochemical homogeneity suggest that it is the origin of the stone that makes up the Small Royal Tomb. Stone excavation continues in Hwangdeung, which, in all likelihood, served as a quarry in the past. It is possible that artisans traveled long distances to excavate, process and carry stone as early as in the Baekje Kingdom.
The study determined that, generally, sandy loam was used to fill the Panchuk (rammed earth) layer of the Baekje. Loam was used to create an impervious layer in the mid-level position and give a solid finish to the top position. With the exception of the strongly viscous layers, the soil texture of the Panchuk (rammed earth) layer of the Baekje resembles the soil texture found in the Earthen Fortress in Pungnap-dong in Seoul. Notable findings of the research are that soil that included much sand and silt was used to make the tomb sturdier and, to prevent any changes to the structure of the tomb even in very humid conditions, soil with high kaolin content was used for the clay soil layer.