Reconsideration of the structure of above-ground stone-mounded wooden chamber tombs

In this article we examine the construction of above-ground stone-mounded wooden chamber tombs and reconstruct their construction process. To do this, we have examined the existing reports and proposed revisions based on what we believe to be errors. In the excavation report, the Cheonmachong tomb was described as a 1-chamber 1-coffin structure and the north mound of Hwangnam-daechong tomb as a 2-chamber 1-coffin structure, which led some researchers to believe that the 3-chamber 1-coffin structure of the south mound of Hwangnam-daechong tomb was changed by the omission of the central chamber in the northern part of the Hwangnam-daechong tomb and the lowering of the chamber in the Cheonmachong tomb. On the other hand, later studies have begun to suggest that there may have been a central chamber in the north mound of Hwangnam-daechong and Cheonmachong. While I agree with the general framework, I have pointed out the weakness of the evidence and understanding of the specific structure, and supplemented it by examining the excavation area and the depression of the Cheonmachong red lacquer stone. In summary, I have shown that, first, the north mound of Hwangnam Daechong tombs and the Cheonmachong are a three-chamber, one-coffin structure with a central chamber; second, the height of the Cheonmachong's neckline can be revised from 2.1 metres to 3.4 metres based on the excavation of the red lacquer stone. Third, the reconstructed construction process shows that the central chamber was built before the outer chamber, and the outer chamber is closely related to the construction of the red stone part due to the grounding of the stone-mounded wooden chamber tombs; fourth, through the comparison, the formality of the grounded red stone mausoleum was examined, and it was found that the plane size of the central chamber was very similar. Finally, fifthly, we confirmed the similarity of the floor plan of the above-ground stone-mounded wooden chamber tombs with that of the large underground stone-mounded wooden chamber tombs of the early Silla period, Jjoksam L17, and provided clues to it.