Mounded Mnemonics: Tumuli and Collective Memory in Old Silla

Abstract

The monumental and lavishly equipped burial mounds located north of the historical site of Wŏlsŏng Castle in the famous city of Kyŏngju in the southeastern part of the Korean peninsula are among the most prominent archaeological remains of the Silla kingdom (traditionally 57 BCE – 935). Despite being commonly perceived as representative for the kingdom, most of the mounded graves were constructed in a comparatively limited period of Silla’s history and in all likelihood at a time when the development of the polity to a centralized kingdom was not yet completed. Usually, the size, construction, and the equipment of the mounds are analyzed and interpreted as reflections of Silla’s social structure, in close alignment to the narratives of the historical records. Although there is no doubt that the mounded graves represent the elite of the polity (including Silla’s rulers), particular aspects of the tumuli