The Ganghwa National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage(Director Ji-yeon Kim) of the Cultural Heritage Administration will hold an academic conference titled "Unraveling the Secrets of Pungnaptoseong’s ConstructionTechniques” on October 28, 2021 at10 am,at the Hanseong Baekje Museum.

The conference will open with the keynote lecture by Professor Soon-bal Park (Chungnam National University)thathighlightthesignificanceof the construction of the Pungnaptoseong(Earthen Fortification in Pungnap-dong). This conference will unveil the findings of theexcavation ofthe 2021 Pungnaptoseong West Fortress Wall Restoration Areafor the first time by the Pungnap Earthen Fortification Excavation Team.
* Excavation site of Pungnaptoseong WestFortress Wall Restoration Area: 310 Pungnap-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul

Since 2017, the Ganghwa National Research Institute of Cultural Heritagehas accumulated various data to investigate the residual pattern, construction method, and direction of the wall through excavation of theWestFortress Wall Restoration Area of Pungnaptoseong.
As is well known, Pungnaptoseong is a fortress builtbyusingtherammedearthtechniquebasedoncompactingsoilbetweensquare frameinlayerstoacertain thickness.

  In the 2021 excavation, in order to confirm the construction technique of Pungnaptoseong Fortress, west fortress wall was excavated horizontally, breaking away from the existing cross-sectionalfortress survey. As a result, it was confirmed for the first time that the fortress wall was constructed with squaremoldframesfilledas earthblockunitsstackedtobuild the side of the fortress wall. This is the strongest evidence of rammed earthen wall fortress, and through this investigation, finallysubstantiatedthat Pungnaptoseong Fortress is a rammed earthen wall fortress.
* Rammed earth (panchuk)and rammed earthstructure:Panchukstructureis a square frame packed with compacted soilwith different properties alternately stackedto a certain thickness. Pangoe is a block of this tamped earth whichis stacked and attached to the front, back, left and right sides of otherpangoes to complete a fortress wall. 

Furthermore, in the fortress, the remains of a road corresponding as the inner ring road of the fortress wall were identified. The inner ring road inside the fortress wall is a passageway for Baekje people that connected to the fortress gate, and traces of cartwheels and the footprints of cattle and horses were also discoveredon the road. It is presumed that the goods brought in through the westgate were transported to various places in Pungnaptoseong Fortress on carts pulled by cattles and horses.

The conference will also includepresentations that highlight the concepts of fortification techniques from the Three Kingdoms period and the discussion offortification techniques across the Hanseong and Sabi periods of Baekje. Itwill provide a platformforexchangesbetweenresearchachievements anddiscussionson therecent development and findings on the construction methodofearthenfortresswallsof Baekje.

In order to comply with the COVID-19 quarantine guidelinesand to connect with a broader audience, this conference willbe held as anonline event. Those who wish to takepartintheevent can watch the live presentation on the day of the conferencethrough accessing the YouTube channel of the NationalResearch Institute of Cultural Heritage.

Moreover, the excavation site of the PungnaptoseongWestFortressWall Restoration Area will be open to the publicfor three days from November 9th to 11th. For those who want to experience the site firsthand, please download the application form in advance from our website (https://www.nrich.go.kr/ganghwa/index.do) and send the completed application form to dzonsw@korea.kr. The application formswill be accepted from November 1st to the 5th. However, the number of participants will be limited to 20 per session to meet the COVID-19guidelines. For more information, please visit our website.

For those who are unable to attend, videos of the excavation results willalso be released on YouTube channel of the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritagefrom October 28th.