Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream
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How it came to be
The Bangucheon is a tributary of the Taehwa River at Ulsan on Korea's southeast coast, and along about three kilometres of its layered cliffs are two rock art sites, the Daegok-ri and Cheonjeon-ri petroglyphs. According to UNESCO they were carved by successive generations, with stone and metal tools, from about 5000 BCE to the 9th century CE.
On 24 December 1970 a Dongguk University team surveying Buddhist remains came by chance upon rocks at Cheonjeon-ri carved with concentric circles and diamonds. In 1971, about 2 km away at Daegok-ri, the team found the Bangudae petroglyphs, some 300 figures of sea and land animals and hunters. Whales are the most common subject, among them right, humpback, gray and sperm whales, and one scene shows people in boats linked by a line to a harpooned whale.
Cheonjeon-ri has more than 600 carvings and over 800 written characters, which record that in 525 a brother of King Beopheung of Silla visited with royal officials and named the valley Seoseokgok, the valley of writing on stone. Since the Sayeon Dam was built between 1962 and 1965, the Bangudae rock has been under water for about eight months each year, and protecting it has been a long-running problem. The site was inscribed in 2025.
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