Amazing what you dig up sometimes — archaeologists in Gyeongju have unearthed a 5-meter tall Buddhist rock carving — in pretty good condition — believed to be from the Unified Silla period. One researcher believes it may go down as one of the most exciting archaeological discoveries in Korea this century.
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WOW, that’s a fantastic find. I’ll be fascinated to see the entire statue once they set it upright; those pictures are just a horrible tease. No surprise at all that it’s at Nam-san — probably plenty more still left unexcavated there, beyond the hundred or so sites and artifacts already found and listed. I know that mountain pretty well and love it deeply — i wonder where this statue actually is? — the photo caption says 열암곡 “Yeolam-gok” [Vinaya Rock Valley?] and i don’t know where that is — my most detailed book lists 26 valleys of Nam-san, and none of them have that name. Does anybody know where this is…?
UPDATE: Stanford wannabe and Santa Clara commando Azia Kim discovered posing as 5-meter tall Buddhist rock carving.
I’m waiting for netizens to start accusing the Japanese of having toppled the statue.
Yeah, i was just teaching my (Korean) students about Gyeongju’s great Hwangnyong-sa temple and they just assumed that the Japanese had destroyed it (and burned Bulguk-sa), but no, it was the Mongols, i told them — and they did not express any ill feelings towards Mongolia.