Korean petroglyphs at risk by reservoir

A group of very beautiful South Korean petroglyphs that seem to represent whale hunting and are dated some 6000 years ago are being damaged by a water reservoir that provides water for the city of Ulsan. 

The Bangudae petroglyphs, discovered in 1971, are submerged under water seasonally, raising great controversy in the East Asian country. It seems that even President Park is greatly concerned about them, something not too usual in a politician, while the Cultural Heritage Administration is demanding measures to protect the ancient rock art, namely to keep water levels low enough. 

However water utilities claim that it is impossible to meet such demands while providing water to the seventh largest South Korean city. The Ulsan city government is proposing to build a wall around the petroglyphs in order to protect them while keeping the water levels, this however would cause environmental damage to the area, disqualifying the site for UNESCO World Heritage protection schemes.

Source: cinabrio.over-blog[en/es] (incl. several pictures and press articles).

Early Neolithic boat and row fragments found in Korea

The remains were originally uncovered in 2005 in Ujin but only now it seems to have reached the international media. They are made of camphor wood and are stratigraphically from the Early Neolithic period (c. 8000 years ago). 

What remains of the boat is 3 meters long and 60 centimeters wide, whereas the original ship is thought to have been at least 4 meters long. 

The artifacts show how advanced carpentry was already in that period.

Sources and more details: Yahoo Groups: Austric, Korea Times, Yonhap, Delta World, Pileta[es].

Oldest Korean farm

In a related news item, the remains of the oldest known Korean farm were unearthed at Goseong earlier this year.

See: PhysOrg.

The site of the farm: lines indicate habitation or farming (white earlier, blue later)