Environment as Palimpsest: Layers of Buddhist Imagery on Kyŏngju Namsan during the Unified Silla (668–935 CE) Period

This study unpacks the Buddhist assimilation of Namsan (South Mountain) in Kyŏngju through the creation and aggregation of Buddhist sculptures and structures on its slopes during the seventh to tenth centuries. Though steeped in native lore regarding nature deities and efficacious rocks, auspicious geological features such as Namsan were recast as part of a Buddhist landscape filled with manifestations of the Buddha and his attendants. These images served to demarcate claims of Buddhism’s place in the peninsula and were situated within sites that were previously marked and claimed by indigenous systems of belief. Employing an approach that draws parallels with David Harvey’s concept of urban environments as palimpsests, this paper reveals that Namsan was a multifaceted site, with military fortifications, temples, and rock-carved sculptures augmenting its spiritual and political significance. The repeated installation of Buddhist imagery ‘recovered’ the mountain, subsuming indigenous beliefs under Buddhist practices. This research finds that Namsan’s landscape was purposefully layered, reflecting the dialectical relationship between various communities and their religious and social practices over time. Analyzing Namsan as a palimpsest underscores the strategic appropriation of the mountain’s materiality and sacrality to establish a Buddhist territory deeply intertwined with the Silla elite’s politics and ideologies.