The Onggwan of Bannam-myeon
In the Yeongsang River basin of southwestern Korea, hundreds of ancient tombs hold the remains of the leaders of the Mahan confederacy, a group of states that flourished from the 1st century BCE to the 3rd century CE. This region, particularly the area around Bannam-myeon in Naju, features a burial practice not seen anywhere else: entombment in massive earthenware jar coffins known as onggwan. These are not small urns; the largest jars are big enough to hold an adult human body, and the coffins were often made by joining two massive jars mouth-to-mouth.
The tombs themselves are large earthen mounds, some reaching over 40 meters in diameter and 10 meters in height. These mounds cover the jar coffins which contain bodies placed in a flexed, or bent, position. The consistent size of the jars relative to the bodies suggests a standardized production process for funerary wares. This unique burial style distinguishes the Mahan culture from the surrounding kingdoms of Baekje, Silla, and Goguryeo, which typically used stone or wooden chambers. The practice began with single jar burials but evolved into large mounds containing multiple jar coffins, indicating their use by the ruling elite.