Free Republic

Five years ago South Korean archaeologists unearthed an elaborate 1,400-year-old grave at the site of Gyeongju, which once served as the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla (c. a.d. 57-535). The tomb, dubbed 120-2, belonged to a high-status individual who had been buried while dressed in a wealth of ornamental attire including gold earrings, a silver belt, silver and beaded bracelets, and bronze shoes. The deceased was also wearing a gilt-bronze crown which, The Miami Herald reports, archaeologists have only recently realized was the most splendid object of them all, a one-of-a-kind item. Closer inspection revealed that the crown...

More than a thousand years before the first European explorer reached Korea’s shores, the Persian Empire was writing love stories about Korean princesses. Recently, historians took a second look an old Persian epic written around 500 AD and realized that, at the center of the tale, was the unusual story of a Persian prince marrying a Korean princess. It’s an incredible discovery. Up until recently, we weren’t sure that the Persians of that time even knew Korea existed. This new revelation shows Persia didn’t just make contact with Korea – these countries were intimately connected. The story is called the...

| The grave of a woman with a bizarre, long-headed skull has been unearthed in Korea. The woman was part of the ancient Silla culture, which ruled much of the Korean peninsula for nearly a millennium. Unlike some of the deformed, pointy skulls that have been found throughout the world in other ancient t graves, however, it is unlikely that this woman had her head deliberately flattened, the researchers said. The ancient Silla Kingdom reigned over part of the Korean Peninsula from 57 B.C. to A.D. 935, making it one of the longest-ruling royal dynasties. Many of Korea's modern-day cultural...