Tombs from South Korea’s lost kingdoms of Gaya stand as a monument to human sacrifice

Gaya was a federation of smaller kingdoms that existed from the first century to the sixth century before disbanding and being conquered

The South Korean government hopes burial mounds containing remains of royalty and nobility will be recognised as a World Heritage Site

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The Dae Gaya burial mounds in Goryeong, South Korea. Photo: Handout

Published: 10:00am, 12 Jun 2021Updated: 10:00am, 12 Jun 2021

The clusters of cone-shaped burial mounds dotting the hills of Goryeong in South Korea have endured since the era of Gaya, the loosely knit federation of six or seven small kingdoms that prospered between the first and sixth centuries. They are also grisly reminders of the practice of human sacrifice.

The South Korean government has lobbied for the mounds – or tumuli – which contain the remains of royalty and nobility, to be recognised as a World Heritage Site.

“The designation of Gaya tombs as World Heritage would help bring back tourists,” Goryeong mayor Kwak Yong-hwan said, adding that tourism has fallen away during the coronavirus pandemic from an average of 150,000 visitors per year.

There are almost 800 Gaya tumuli, containing individual tombs numbering in the hundreds of thousands. They are evidence of the existence of the “lost kingdoms” barely mentioned in Korean history books.

By 412, the Gaya confederacy had disintegrated and was eventually conquered in 562 by the kingdom of Silla, which unified the Korean peninsula. History is written by the victors and Gaya was no exception.

Nevertheless, the Chinese history book Hou Hanshu recorded Gaya for its production of iron, which was sold to other Korean kingdoms and Japan.