Abstract
During the Incipient and Early Silla phases, which witnessed the establishment and development of the ancient Silla state, the Wolseong North Burial Ground functioned as not only the central burial ground in the Gyeongju region of the capital of Silla but also as the central burial ground of the whole Silla state. Wolseong North Burial Ground is where transformations in Silla funerary architecture first occurred. As such, an empirical study of the tombs constructed at this burial ground can be regarded as a starting point from which an understanding of the development of the tomb culture of the Silla state may be achieved. This paper therefore aims to examine the changing nature of the tomb culture of the Early Silla phase through the burial data of Wolseong North Burial Ground and the Gyeongju region. Wooden chamber tombs were constructed from the late phase of Saroguk. At Wolseong North Burial Ground, which eventually developed into the central burial ground of the Gyeongju region, wooden chamber tombs embellished with stone packing emerged during the Incipient Silla phase; wooden chamber tombs with stone mounds, on the other hand, first appeared in the Early Silla phase and eventually became established as the central tomb type. A key difference between the wooden chamber tomb embellished with stone packing and the wooden chamber tomb with stone mound is that, in the case of the latter, stones were packed not only around sides of the wooden structure that acted as the burial chamber but also on top of this structure. The addition of a high earthen mound surrounded by protective ring of stones is another distinctive feature of the latter, presenting a contrast to the low mound of the former. During the Early Silla phase, two types of wooden chamber tombs with stone mounds were constructed at Wolseong North Burial Ground: those with burial chambers located above ground and those with subterranean burial chambers. Also constructed during this phase were the wooden chamber tomb embellished with packed stones, the wooden chamber tomb embellished with packed clay, simple earth cut burials, which had been used since the Incipient Silla phase, as well as the stone-lined burials with vertical entrance which first appeared in the Early Silla phase. However, of these different types of burials, it was only the wooden chamber tomb with stone mound that was covered with a 'high mound.' Differentiation between the different tomb types can also be observed in terms of location, type of burial chamber used, construction method, and tomb size. It is therefore possible to surmise that stratification between the different tomb types, which first emerged in the Incipient Silla phase, became intensified during the Early Silla phase.
고대국가 신라가 성립하고 발전한 신라 조기와 전기에 경주 월성북고분군은 경주지역의 중심고분군이었을 뿐만 아니라 신라 전체의 중앙의 중심고분군으로 기능하였다. 경주 월성북고분군은 신라 고분문화 변동의 진원이었으며, 따라서 신라 고분문화 전개과정의 이해는 월성북고분군에서 조영된 고분과 묘제들에 대한 실상의 파악이 그 출발점이다. 이글은 월성북고분군을 비롯하여 경주지역에서 전개된 신라 전기 고분문화의 전개과정을 살피려는 작업의 시작으로 작성되었다. 사로국 후기부터 목곽묘가 축조되어 경주지역의 중심고분군이 된 월성북고분군에서는 신라 조기 석재충전목곽묘의 발생에 이어 신라 전기에는 적석목곽분이 출현하여 그 중심 묘제가 되었다. 적석목곽분은 매장주체부인 목곽, 목곽 주위의 사방적석에 더해 목곽의 뚜껑 위에 가해진 상부적석과 호석으로 보호된 고총 봉토가 묘광 내 목곽과 사방적석, 그 위의 저봉토로 이루어진 석재충전목곽묘와 차별화 된 것이다. 신라 전기 월성북고분군에서는 적석목곽분이 지상적석식과 상부적석식의 두 유형으로 나뉘어 전개되었으며, 신라 조기 이래의 석재충전목곽묘와 점토충전목곽묘, 토광묘도 공존하였고, 신라 전기에 새로 발생한 수혈식석곽분도 축조되었다. 그러나 그 중 고총으로 조영된 것은 적석목곽분 뿐이었으며, 묘제들 사이에는 그 외 고분의 입지, 묘곽 형식의 분포, 구조 각부의 축조기법과 규모에서도 차등이 있었다. 월성북고분군에서는 신라 조기부터 진행된 묘제 사이의 위계화가 신라 전기에는 한층 더 강화되었던 것이다.