Ecological environment during Silla period found through seeds and pollens

GYEONGJU, South Korea, June 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Gyeongju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage(the GNRICH) released a news article series on the 30th about the lifestyles of Silla. In this episode, the article deals with seeds excavated in Wolseong.

In the middle of the Gyeongju Historic Areas, inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List, are included Wolseong heritage site, which holds the millennial history of royal palace of Silla.

Recently, relics that are rarely seen were excavated in huge amounts at Haeja, a pond surrounding the royal palace, which provide significant historic data to look through aspects of Silla.

In 2019, the Gyeongju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage released a picture titled "One summer's day of Silla Wolseong" which captures a scenery of summer in the 5th century, which is about 1,600 years ago.

The plant in the picture is a detailed restoration of the natural environment after a scientific analysis of relics and pollens discovered in this site.

In deposited soil of Haeja, which is one of the historic sites of Gyeongju Wolseong, seeds and pollens were discovered without being damaged, which can be restored thoroughly.

The seeds from 1,600 years ago were well preserved for a long time because they were blocked off from the outside atmosphere, buried deep down at the sedimentary layer of the bottom of the pond.

According to the analysis, about 70 species of plant seeds were found in Haeja, including prickly waterlily, grains such as rice, barley, wheat, and bean, and fruits such as peaches and plums.

The most excavated ones are seeds of prickly waterlily.

Prickly waterlily is an annual plant living in a reservoir or a pond, and blooms purple flowers in Summer.

Based on the fact that only highest ruling classes of Silla including royal families wore official uniform in purple, it can be estimated that people of Silla considered purple as a precious color.

In addition, there were also traces of Silla people utilizing decorations by sewing up barks. In the sedimented layer of Haeja, a number of skins of pine nuts which seem to have been used after sewing up them, were discovered.

The research of plants excavated at the Jjoksaem site is acknowledged to have significantly contributed to the development of archaeology, which provides precious historic data about the lifestyle and thoughts of Silla people.

Website: https://nrich.go.kr/english/index.do 

SOURCE The Gyeongju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage