Same Handwriting on Goryeo Shipwrecks 250 Meters Apart... Wooden Tablets Reveal an "800-Year-Old Route"

30 wooden tablets found on Taean's Mado Ships No. 5 and No. 6... Ships No. 1 and No. 5 believed to have sailed in the same fleet in 1208
First evidence of a grain transport vessel from Gyeongsang Province... Records on taxation and land rights also uncovered

More than 800 years ago, two ships bound for Gaegyeong, the capital of Goryeo, sank off the coast of Taean, South Chungcheong Province. Centuries later, the two ships were discovered on the seabed 250 meters apart. A clue linking them was handwriting on wooden tags: wooden tablets bearing cargo recipient information and handwriting that closely matched were recovered from each wreck.

Divers from the National Research Institute of Maritime Cultural Heritage unload ceramics recovered from underwater on an underwater excavation vessel in the waters off Mado, Taean, South Chungcheong Province, on the 4th. The ceramics recovered that day are separate from the artifacts from the Mado Shipwrecks No. 5 and 6. Photo by Kim Heeyoon

The Korea Heritage Service's National Research Institute of Maritime Cultural Heritage said at a media briefing on the results of its underwater excavation in Taean, South Chungcheong Province, on the 4th that it had confirmed the identity of the Goryeo-era wreck known as Mado Ship No. 5 and found additional traces of Mado Ship No. 6 in nearby waters. A total of 30 wooden tablets were identified in this survey: 26 from Ship No. 5 and four from Ship No. 6. Researchers believe it is highly likely that Mado Ships No. 1 and No. 5 sank in the spring of 1208 while sailing as part of the same fleet.

The existence of Mado Ship No. 5 was first suggested after sonar surveys last year found bundles of celadon and fragments of a hull. This year's detailed excavation uncovered 54 artifacts, including 26 wooden tablets, anchor stones, ropes, cargo support timbers, sacks of rice, and a bronze jar used in daily life aboard the ship.

The wooden tablets bore the inscriptions “Jeongmyo year” and “December of the Jeongmyo year.” Based on radiocarbon dating of five recovered organic samples and the production period of the celadon, researchers identified the Jeongmyo year as 1207. During the Goryeo Dynasty, grain harvested in autumn was stored at tax grain depots through the winter and transported to Gaegyeong the following spring. On this basis, researchers estimate that Mado Ship No. 5 sailed in the spring of 1208.

A bronze jar discovered at the underwater excavation site of the Mado No. 5 shipwreck in Taean, South Chungcheong Province. Researchers believe it was a household item used by the crew aboard the ship. National Research Institute of Maritime Cultural Heritage

The decisive clue that revealed the relationship between the two ships was the handwriting on the wooden tablets. Tablet No. 20 from Mado Ship No. 5 records cargo being sent from Anro-hyeon, in what is now the Geumjeong-myeon area of Yeongam County, South Jeolla Province, to Song Deukdeok in Gaegyeong. Both the recipient and the form of the writing closely match those on Tablet No. 34 from Mado Ship No. 1, excavated in 2009.

Researchers initially considered the possibility that cargo separated from Mado Ship No. 1 had accumulated at a site 250 meters away. However, the thickness and processing methods of the outer hull planking found at the two sites differed. Mado Ship No. 1 was built from thick logs that had undergone relatively little processing, while Ship No. 5 was found to have been made using timber shaped into planks. Researchers now consider it more likely that the two different ships belonged to the same fleet.

The wooden tablet recovered from the site believed to be the Mado No. 6 shipwreck, unveiled on the 4th at the Taean Underwater Heritage Museum in Taean, South Chungcheong Province. It records “Saju,” referring to Sacheon in South Gyeongsang Province, and “Banseong,” an old name for the Jinju area. The tablet is considered evidence of tax transport in the Gyeongsang region during the Goryeo Dynasty. National Research Institute of Maritime Heritage

Moon Gyeongho, a professor in the Department of History Education at Kongju National University, said, “The discovery of Mado Ship No. 5 shows that when the fleet set out from the Jangheungchang area of Yeongam, it consisted of at least two ships, not just one.”

Traces of a grain transport vessel that departed from Gyeongsang Province were identified for the first time at Mado Ship No. 6. More than 20 Goryeo-era artifacts, including four wooden tablets, sacks of rice, cargo support timbers and ceramics, were found in waters about 110 meters east of Mado Ship No. 2. The tablets bore the place names “Saju” and “Banseong.” These refer to present-day Sacheon City and the Banseong-myeon area of Jinju City, respectively, in South Gyeongsang Province.

The Mado No. 1 and No. 5 ships were found about 250 meters apart, but this investigation identified a wooden tablet whose recipient and handwriting matched. The structures of their hull planking differed, indicating that they were separate vessels. Researchers suggested that they may have belonged to the same fleet and sunk together while sailing. National Research Institute of Maritime Heritage

Researchers believe the ship sank while carrying grain collected in the Sacheon and Jinju areas to Tongyangchang, a tax grain depot in Sacheon, for transport to Gaegyeong. Until now, all the departure points recorded on wooden tablets from Goryeo-era cargo ships identified in the Taean waters were in Jeolla Province. This discovery has provided a clue for tracing the routes taken by grain transport vessels from Gyeongsang Province.

The wooden tablets also contained records reflecting taxation and property relations at the time. They noted the types and quantities of grain, including rice, brown rice, white rice and beans, as well as the recipients' social status. In particular, the term “Jeonju,” referring to the right to collect taxes from land, was identified for the first time. Other tablets named recipients using the term “Jaegyeong,” referring to people from provincial areas who lived in Gaegyeong, and listed the wives of senior officials as cargo recipients.

On the 4th, Lee Eunseok, director of the National Research Institute of Maritime Cultural Heritage, examines a ceramic artifact recovered during an underwater survey and explains its features aboard an underwater excavation vessel in the waters off Mado, Taean, South Chungcheong Province. Photo by Kim Heeyun.

Professor Moon said, “Wooden tablets have continued to be discovered from the Taean Ship through Mado Ship No. 3, but this is the first time the word ‘Jeonju’ has appeared,” adding that the find is an important resource for research into the economic history of the Goryeo Dynasty.

That afternoon, the research vessel's underwater excavation site was opened to the press, where divers were conducting an actual underwater survey. Equipped with diving gear, they entered the waters off Taean, searched the seabed for artifacts and then recovered ceramics. Among the finds was a bowl inscribed with “Naeseom,” referring to Naeseomsi, the Joseon-era government office responsible for supplying goods to the royal court. The ceramics recovered that day are separate from the cargo of Mado Ships No. 5 and No. 6.

The ceramics recovered that day are separate from the artifacts found on the Mado Shipwrecks Nos. 5 and 6. Among the finds was buncheong ware stamped with the inscription “Naeseom,” referring to Naeseomsi, the government office that supplied goods to the royal court during the Joseon Dynasty. The pottery offers a glimpse into the production and distribution system for ceramics intended for the court at the time. Reporter Kim Heeyoon

Hong Gwanghui, an underwater excavation researcher at the National Research Institute of Maritime Cultural Heritage, spoke aboard the survey vessel about the challenges of locating shipwrecks buried under the seabed. Even when sonar is used to survey the seabed strata, it is difficult to distinguish a hull from the surrounding layers, so survey routes must be planned at close intervals. The institute plans to expand its excavation work using technology that combines multiple survey instruments on an unmanned surface vehicle to survey the seabed and the layers beneath it simultaneously.

The Mado waters off Taean were a major route for transporting grain and local specialties from southern regions to the capital during the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties. Because strong currents and reefs made navigation difficult, the area was known as Nanhaengnyang, meaning “a difficult passage.” After the Taean Ship, carrying about 23,000 Goryeo celadon pieces, was discovered in 2007, Mado Ships No. 1 through No. 4 were identified in succession. The institute plans to excavate additional uninvestigated areas of Mado Ship No. 5 next year and continue detailed surveys to locate the hull of Ship No. 6.

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