1,400-year-old crown — still decorated with insect wings — found in South Korea
Sifting through the rocky dirt of South Korea, archaeologists carefully unearthed an ancient crown, slightly bent but obviously ornate. Something about its decorations caught their attention — and for good reason.
It turned out to be a first-of-its-kind find.
Archaeologists excavated a burial dubbed Tomb 120-2 in Gyeongju in 2020 as part of an ongoing project to find and restore artifacts from the Silla Kingdom, Korea Heritage Service said in a May 21 news release. The Silla Kingdom was a powerful dynasty that united the Korean peninsula and ruled from 57 B.C. to 935 A.D.
The tomb had a misleadingly mundane name and actually contained a wide array of ornamental attire made in the sixth century, officials said in a 2020 news release. Excavations uncovered gold earrings, pendants, a silver belt, a silver bracelet, a bead bracelet, several silver rings, bronze shoes and a crown.
Archaeologists realized that the 1,400-year-old crown was the most splendid crown ever found in the Gyeongju area. When they sent it for conservation work, they learned that their initial assessment had been an understatement.
The ancient crown had actually been decorated with jewel beetle wings, some of which were still in their original location, officials said.
A diagram shows what the crown originally looked like. The base of the crown was a thin band with five vertical decorations branching off. Archaeologists described the outer two shapes as being deer antler-like and the central three shapes as being four-tiered.
Throughout the crown, holes shaped like upside-down hearts were punched and filled with brightly colored insect wings as decorative touches, officials said.
So far, 15 insect wing decorations have been found, about half of which were still attached to the crown, archaeologists said. Some of the jewel beetle wings had their original green-yellow-red hues while others had blackened.
Archaeologists have previously found a few artifacts decorated with beetle wings, such as horse harnesses and belts, but the 1,400-year-old crown is a first-of-its-kind find.
The crown, made of bronze then covered in a thin layer of gold, also had gold beads and jade pieces hanging from it originally, archaeologists said.
The crown was found on the head of the person buried in Tomb 120-2. Officials did not identify the individual but noted they were roughly 5-foot, 7-inches tall. Research at the site is ongoing.
Gyeongju is a city near the southeastern coast of South Korea and roughly 170 miles southeast from Seoul.
Google Translate and Naver Papago were used to translate the news releases from the Korea Heritage Service.
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