Research On Mountain City-sites Of Koguryo

Zoumou(邹牟), founder of the Koguryo state, built Koguryo on mountain city-sites. Even if this point is not stressed, the fact that the mountain city-sites of Koguryo have had great influence on Koguryo's history is indisputable. The Koguryo mountain city-sites are material evidence for studying the process of enlargement of Koguryo territory. They were not only used as protective structures against foreign invasions during war, they served also as the basic infrastructure for establishing control of Koguryo territory.Koguryo mountain city-sites consist mainly of a city-wall, the city-wall auxiliary facilities, and various installations inside and outside each city. This study examines the major components that constituted Koguryo mountain city-sites in order to investigate how Koguryo mountain city-sites reflected typical city construction characteristics. Additionally, a new periodization is established, and the process of evolution for each period is analyzed.The thesis is divided into five chapters:The first chapter is the introduction. The chronological scope of this thesis goes from the foundation of the Koguryo state during the 1st century BCE to its destruction in the middle of the 7th century CE. The area of the Koguryo mountain city-sites extended from the provinces of Liaoning and Jilin in the present day People's Republic of China, through North Korea into the northern region of South Korea. The purpose and method of this research has been to systematically review all data and results of surveys and excavations on Koguryo mountain city-sites previously conducted in the PRC, North Korea, and South Korea.The second chapter focuses on the analysis of distribution and typology of Koguryo mountain city-sites. In the first part, distribution analysis takes into consideration contemporary national territories and levels of research. The main Koguryo mountain city-sites can be divided into three regions–namely China, North Korea and South Korea– as well as partitions based on environmental conditions. Within the borders of the People's Republic of China, Koguryo territory is divided into the Yalu river valley, the Liao river valley, the eastern Liaoning peninsula, the Songhua river valley, and the Tumen river valley; within the borders of North Korea, it is divided into the lower course of the Yalu river– the littoral of the lower course Chongchon (清川) river, the Taedong(大同) river valley, the coast of Hwanghaenamdo(黄海南道), the Yeseong(礼成) river valley, the eastern coast of North Korea, and the Tumen river valley; and within the borders of South Korea, it is divided into the Imjin(临津) river valley, the Yangju(扬州) basin, the Han(汉) river valley, and the Kum(锦) river valley. The second part establishes a typology of the Koguryo mountain city-sites. The criteria used include localization and topography. Categories include: valley type, summit type– which includes flat summit type, peak type and mixed type– summit and valley type, saddle type and mid-slope type. This study analyses the scale and architectural materials of each type.The main part of the thesis, the third chapter, focuses on the architectural methods of city building used in Koguryo mountain city-sites. This chapter is divided into four parts. The first part concentrates on the architectural method used during the construction of the basic facilities of the city-wall. On these sites various techniques were employed to build the foundation and basic facilities of the city-wall. Furthermore, single-sided, double-sided, outer wall and inner wall methods have all been used to build city-walls. The second part analyzes the various types of Wengcheng(瓮城)and their basic structure. The enclosure outside the city gate can be divided into several types: concave,"凹"shaped,"?"shaped,"二"shaped and">-"shaped. The city gate are composed of an entryway, door leafs, a building over the gateway, a door plinth, and a door opening. The third part inspects the auxiliary facilities of city-walls, especially Mamian(马面), Nuqiang(女墙) and Shidong(石洞), which all are typical features of Koguryo mountain city-sites. The paper analyzes their distribution patterns, form and structure to clarify their functions. The fourth part divides the inner and outer features of mountain city-sites into palatial sites, houses and terrace architectural types, water supply and drain off system, inner-city wall, moats and obstruction wall, and their form and structure are analyzed.The fourth chapter focuses on the periodization and evolution of Koguryo mountain city-sites. After synthesizing records in transmitted texts with the changes in architectural methods explained in the third chapter, the developing process of Koguryo mountain city-sites can be divided into four stages. The first period extends from the foundation of the Koguryo state to the end of the 3rd century CE, the second period from the end of the 3rd century to the 4th century, the third period from the 5th to the middle of the 6th century, and the fourth period from the middle of the 6th century until the middle of the 7th century. The first period extends from the foundation of the Koguryo state to the construction of new cities. Because of the lack of both textual record and archaeological data, it is impossible to describe the content of the Koguryo mountain city-sites during this period. Using the Wandu mountain city-site as a starting point, Koguryo's characteristic method of building a city became fixed during the late 2nd century and early 3rd century. However, taking in consideration the political power and conditions of the Koguryo at this time, the spread of Koguryo mountain city-sites must have taken a certain amount of time. The second period begins with the foundation of xincheng(新城) and ends before the conquest of the Liaodong area. At the end of the 3rd century Koguryo developed a system of centralized government. It is during this period when construction of mountain city-sites began to spread to regions that were further away from the capital. It is especially along the main road of the Koguryo–"the north-south road of Koguryo"– that typical mountain city-sites were been built. These Koguryo mountain city-sites emphasized defensive functions, so mountain city-sites of the summit type are relatively numerous. Most of the middle-size and small-size sites were built below 2000m above sea level. The third period begins with Korguryo's occupation of the Liaodong peninsula and ends with the transfer of the capital to changancheng(长安城), located near modern Pyongyang. During this period, Koguryo not only stabilized the recently conquered Liaodong area, but by moving the capital to the Pyongyang, implemented policy to conquer the south and control primary political power in the Korean peninsula. In these regions, the greater scope of Koguryo mountain city-sites shows a growing number of valley-type sites, an enlargement of the size of the cities, and the climax of architectural technique. At the same time, within the borders of modern South Korea, some small scale fortress were constructed which were structurally very different from the mountain city-sites of the Liaodong and North Korean regions. The fourth period begins with the foundation of changancheng and ends with the destruction of the state of Koguryo. At this time a new type of site was developed which combined features and functions of both mountain city-sites and plain city-sites– the"plain-mountain type(平山城)". Moreover, in the northwest region of Koguryo, the Qianli (千里) great-wall was built. It was the last defensive system built during this period in Koguryo using earth as building material, since the Qianli great-wall and mountain city-sites line were contemporaneously built right before the destruction of Koguryo as a final defensive system.The fifth chapter is the conclusion. After summarizing research results, new topics and directions for future research are proposed.