Daegok-ri Petroglyphs

The petroglyphs at Daegok-ri are located primarily on a main vertical rock face around 8m wide and around 4.5m high, and on 10 nearby rock faces. There are about 312 petroglyphs total.

Depicted by the representations are sea animals like whales, land animals like tigers and deer, and scenes of prehistoric whaling, hunting and fishing. The representations of animals are very detailed, and around 20 species – whales, turtles, seals, waterfowl, sharks, fish, deer, wild boar, tigers, leopards, foxes, and wolves, for example – can be distinguished.

The whales depicted in the petroglyphs are extremely detailed, owing to close observation of the animals in the process of whaling. Whale species can be distinguished by the shape of their blowholes, head and mouth shape, body form, and dorsal and tail fin characteristics. Using these characteristics, at least seven distinct species can be identified in the petroglyphs : the northern right whale, the humpback whale, the gray whale, the sperm whale, the short-finned pilot whale, the orca, and the porpoise.

Along the top of the rock faces at Daegok-ri are rocky outcrops which extend out 2 to 4.5m over the faces themselves. These eave-like structures create natural shade which protect the petroglyphs from wind and rain. The faces themselves are oriented northwest, and are illuminated by sunlight between 3 and 5PM from March to November. The sunlight gives the drawings an even more well-defined and three-dimensional appearance.

Along with the petroglyphs at Cheonjeon-ri, the Daegok-ri petroglyphs are registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site Tentative Lists.

The Dongguk University Museum’s survey group was investigating the Ulju region for Buddhist sites on December 24, 1970, in the course of which they visited the Bangudae area to locate the site of Bangosa Temple, where the great monk Wonhyo from the Silla Dynasty is said to have stayed. A local resident directed them to a carved stone in Cheonjeon-ri, and this was the first Korean petroglyph reported to academic society.

They were surveying the caved stone at Cheonjeon-ri the following year on December 25, 1971, when a village resident directed them to the Bangudae petroglyphs at Daegok-ri. These petroglyphs lie approximately 0.7km downstream from Bangudae Terrace.