Bangudae Petroglyphs

National Treasure #285 (replica)
Upper Paleolithic to Bronze Age (13,000 BP - 3500 BP)
Gyeongju Museum, Korea

The Bangudae petroglyphs (Ulsan, just south of Gyeongju) are severely endangered due to yearly flooding from a Hyundai Corp. dam. This replica cast, located in the Gyeongju Museum, provides a much better view of the petroglyphs than one can obtain at Ulsan itself. The petroglyphs show land and sea animals such as deer, tigers, turtles, seals, and whales that were important to the religious and economic life of the early peoples on the Korean peninsula. In particular, the port of Ulsan has been a center for the whaling industry since prehistoric times, when people first built shrines and worshiped the whales as divinities, a tradition that continues up to the present.

Click inside any image for a closeup.