Urn discovery sets earlier date on temple: 24-10-2007
A set of gold, silver and bronze urns found on the site of the Wangheungsa Temple in South Korea is being hailed as an important discovery as they set the date of the construction of the monument 33 years later than previously thought.
The Buyeo National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage announced that the urns, which were uncovered in a wooden pagoda, date from the Baekje kingdom, which existed from 18 BC to 660 AD.
But the inscription on the bronze urn meant that researchers were able to set the date of the building of the temple at 577 BC, to coincide with the death of the Baekje king Wideok's son, although previously experts had reckoned it was built in 600 BC.
However, the ashes (or sari) contained in the tiny gold urn - which was placed in the silver bottle-shaped urn, which was in turn enclosed in the bronze urn - were those of a great monk, the Korea Times reports.
The inscription was translated by experts as "Jeongyu February 15th (577 BC), Baekje King Chang (King Wideok) builds this temple for the late prince and when two saris were buried, they became three in accord with the gods''.
"This provides an important base for chronological recordings of Baekje history and other archaeological research materials from the same period,'' the institute said.