NORTHEAST ASIAN HISTORY FOUNDATION 01/2018
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These 28-centimeter-long relics were discovered along with roof tiles from heaps of collapsed stone mounds of the tombs Taewangneung and Cheonchuchong. Fairly fine clay has been fired into bricks after being shaped into thin, long trapezoid blocks with slanted edges. A single side of each brick is divided into a vertical row of square slots to carve a Chinese character in relief in each slot.
The carved phrases convey wishes for the tombs to be well-preserved over time: "May Taewangneung stand as firm and solid as a mountain" (願太王陵安如山固如岳), "May it remain sturdy for hundreds and thousands of years" (千秋萬歲永固), "Until heaven and earth comes to an end" (保固乾坤相畢).
Pyramid-shaped stone mound tombs of Koguryo like Taewangneung and the Cheonchuchong Tombs are likely to have once had buildings with tiled roofs built on top them, so the featured bricks must have been part of such buildings.
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